Change of Spice
by Kohan
Summary: When Mammoru steals Usagi's heart and breaks it, what is the poor girl to do? Make new friends and start a new life!! Sailorpluto takes Usagi, Rei, Hotaru, Micharu and Haruka to the future and there they meet the G-boys.
1. Prolong: Girl at the Door

***Prolong: Girl at the Door*  
**By: Kohan

AN: Rei, Usagi and Hotaru are 18. G-Boys are 19. Setsuna is...old. Micharu and Haruka are 20.  


***

Rei opened her door at the sound of knocking. There was Usagi, tear streaked and barefooted, standing in the rain.   
"Usagi, what the hell are you doing?" Rei asked, but Usagi just continued to cry, not her babyish -your-so-mean cry, but a true cry, a heartfelt one. Usagi walked into the entryway of Rei's house, she was dripping water on the floor. "I'll get you a towel, Usagi..." Rei said and went to get a towel, she could still hear Usagi crying. When Rei returned with a big, blue towel, Usagi was sitting on the bench, wiping her tears away, which didn't help much on account of her hair was dripping. Rei wrapped Usagi in the towel and guided her to the living room. "What happened?"  
"He...he...he doesn't love me anymore, Rei-chan. I saw him with another girl,"  
"Mammoru? But-."  
"I can't stand to be here, Rei..."  
"Usagi...this isn't logical...are you sure?"  
"I thought he loved me, you know...that we were destined to be together. But now I see it was all in vein, I remember what Pluto said... 'the future is only what you make it.'"  
"Usagi..."  
"Please, will you come with me, to another place? Somewhere far from here?"  
"I-I don't know...where..." Rei was at a loss for words.   
"Rei-chan, I don't want to be alone, we could go...somewhere no one could ever find us."  
"Your tired, and soaking wet...it's 1 o'clock in the morning...you should get some rest before you decide to do anything, it could all be a misunderstanding..."  
"Rei-chan, can I use your shower, and borrow some clothes? I don't want to go back home tonight." Usagi asked, looking up from her hands, which she had been staring at through the whole discussion.   
"Of course you can, I'll put your clothes in the dryer and get the guest bed ready." Rei said. The guest room  
was her grandfathers, she had been using it ever since he died at the end of the last year.   
"Thank you," Usagi said, getting up, she then walked slowly to the bathroom, and when Rei heard the shower   
start she got up and picked up the mobile phone. She called Haruka fist, she hoped she wouldn't make Haruka   
too mad. But it wasn't Haruka who answered the phone When the receiver clicked with the sound of answer, it   
was Hotaru's voice that came on.   
"Moshi moshi?" she asked sleepily.   
"Hotaru?"  
"Rei-chan?"  
"Gomen for calling you so late, is Haruka there?" Rei asked.  
"No, her and Micharu and Setsuna went out about an hour ago, what's wrong, Rei?"  
"It's Usagi, Hotaru. Do you know where they went?"  
"Setsuna went to her midnight medical class, and I don't know where Haruka and Micharu are."  
"Do you have Setsuna's number? It's very important."  
"I have it, I could call, if you'd like."  
"Yes, and have her meet me at my house, could you come over after you get off the phone, Hotaru?"  
"Hai, I'll get dressed." Hotaru said, "Ja ne"  
"Ja ne" Rei said, and hung up the phone. She then went to the window and closed the curtains. Rei walked into   
the guest room and prepared the bed, then she went into the bathroom to gather Usagi's wet clothes and lay out some of her own. A few minutes later, the phone rang.  
"Moshi moshi?" Rei said.  
"Rei-chan, is Usagi there?" Minako's voice said,  
"No, she's not here, Mina-chan." Rei lied.  
"Oh, gomen for calling at this hour." The receiver clicked.   
"Ja ne." Rei said to empty space. "Maybe forever."  
  
Usagi got out of the shower, and put on the clothes Rei had provided. The tear-streaks were gone from her face, but they were not gone from her heart. She felt like dying. Usagi walked out of the bathroom and into the  
living room, where Rei was sitting. Hotaru was also there, her hair was wet, like she had come a long way in the   
rain. Usagi wondered how she had gotten here, she must have walked. Then Usagi remembered that since Hotaru had been reborn after she saved the Senshi when she was Super Sailorsaturn, her body was much stronger physically.   
"Hotaru, what are you doing here?" Usagi asked.   
"I asked her to come, Usagi," Rei said. "I thought we might need her and Setsuna's help. Why don' t you go lay down, I'll come in when Setsuna gets here." Rei said. Hotaru nodded in agreement, and Usagi gave in. Walking to the bedroom, Usagi saw fresh bed sheets and a soft looking bed. She let herself fall into it and cried softly into the pillow.   
  
When daylight came, it found Rei, Setsuna and Usagi asleep. Setsuna had arrived around 2 o'clock, and insisted that Hotaru go to bed. Hotaru had refused, and said that she would stay awake and answer any phone calls that they would receive. Ami had called once, and when she questioned Hotaru about why she was at Rei's house and awake, Hotaru had simply stated that they were having a slumber party. Since Ami was smarter then the average Senshi, she didn't take Hotaru seriously. Hotaru then, very boldly spoke out and told Ami that it was none of her buisness. Makoto had also called, sounding very concerned, but since she was Minako's best friend, Hotaru decided not to take any chances, and said that Rei was sick and that she was taking care of her. Minako didn't call again, and Mammoru didn't call at all. Hotaru figured it was probably better this way, but she was getting awfully tired.   
  
When the phone rang next, it was Haruka with only 6 words for Hotaru: Where the hell have you been? Haruka was calm, in the only way that Haruka could be, when Hotaru explained the situation. (AN: In other words, she flipped). Haruka hung up on Hotaru, saying that she would be over with more clothes for Hotaru and Setsuna, Hotaru sighed and hung up. By that time it was 7 o'clock, and Rei had woken up.   
"Did you get no sleep last night, Hotaru!?"  
"I was answering phone calls, Ami and Mako called, and Haruka is coming over with fresh clothes for Setsuna and I."  
"Hotaru, you should get some sleep..."  
"Rei-chan," Usagi said from the doorway, she had woken up, and she looked so small and fragile with her hair   
down in Rei's nightclothes. A girl with a broken heart. "I still want to go somewhere, but not alone." Usagi said.  
"That can be arranged," Said Setsuna from the couch where she had been sleeping. I could send you to another time. That way there would be no sour memories..."   
"Could you Setsuna, I could start over."   
"Usagi, are you sure?" Rei asked, a little bit of a pained look on her face, although she wouldn't mind leaving.  
There was nothing for her here. Usagi nodded her head and whispered "Hai."  
"I'd like to come with you, Usagi. To protect you." Hotaru said. "But could we please wait for Haruka and   
Micharu? These clothes are really beginning to bug me."Hotaru tried to smooth out her rumpled clothing to no   
avail.  
"We'll wait, that way Rei-chan will have enough time to cut my hair." Usagi said.   
"You want me to...cut..." A strange look came over Rei's face, she looked almost frightened. "But Usagi, you love  
your hair..."  
"I just want it as short as Hotaru's, that way...when I look at myself, I won't remember..."  
"But your odango...Usagi..."   
"Enough of this, I have to go prepare your stay," Setsuna said, "I imagine that Haruka and Micharu will want to   
come with you?" Setsuna asked Hotaru, who nodded. "I realize that this may sound a bit unsympathetic, but  
this happened just at the right time. You see, I didn't tell you, Hotaru, but I have to go guard the gates of   
time once again, to make sure no one comes in the wrong ways, we've been getting a lot of that lately." Setsuna explained. Hotaru looked a little hurt.   
"It's okay, Setsuna-mama, I know you'll visit often. "Hotaru said. Setsuna transformed in a single flash and   
opened the gates of time, and with that she was gone.   
  
"Come on, Rei-chan, just use Hotaru-chan as a model." Usagi said, with a little bit of a renewed spirit. Rei  
stood, holding the scissors, somewhat shakily to Usagi's hair.   
"Okay," Rei took a deep breath, and began to cut. Hotaru was sitting on a kitchen barstool watching. Within 10   
minutes, Usagi's hair was as short as Hotaru's, and Usagi was looking in the mirror with a brush in hand.   
"Actually, I think your hair frames your face better now." Hotaru said, standing behind Usagi.   
"I like it, it makes me feel like a new woman." Usagi said. Suddenly, the front door opened and Haruka and   
Micharu came in Haruka and Micharu came in, complete with a bag of clothes and all.   
"How you doing oda-." Haruka started, she walked into the bathroom and saw Usagi by the mirror. "How you doing, Usagi?" She rephrased her words. "This look is good on you."   
"It's you." Micharu agreed. "Hotaru, we brought you some clothes."   
"When Hotaru told us about your situation, we-I decided that we should come with you...there's nothing for us here without you, um, Usagi." Haruka said proudly. Hotaru smiled, and took the bag of clothes from Micharu.   
"Usagi, can I drop you at your house for some clothes or something?" Asked Micharu.  
"No, I'll buy something when we get where we're going...wherever that is."  
"Here, Usagi, you can wear a pair of my shoes, since you came with none." Rei said, handing Usagi a pair of white shoes.   
"Thank you."

A few minutes later, Hotaru came out of Rei's room in a light purple summer dress that Micharu had packed. Outside, the rain had stopped, and the sun was coming out. Again the phone rang.  
"I'm not here," Said Usagi. Rei picked up the phone.  
"Moshi moshi." She said, somewhat annoyed at all the phone calls she was getting.   
"Rei-chan, let me talk to Usako." Mammoru said.   
"USAGI isn't here." Rei said.  
"Let me talk to her, I need to."  
"This is all your fault, Mammoru, If I had half a mind, I would let Hotaru rip you apart." Rei said, and hung up  
she dusted off her hands. "Yup, all in a days work." Rei said.   


***

AN: Sorry that was so short, but it is the prolong, after all! More to come shortly, and soon it will really be a crossover!


	2. Ch1: Starting New

***Chapter 1: Starting New*  
**By: Kohan

  
Haruka was sitting on the sofa next to Micharu watching TV while Hotaru read a book. 'My God, how can she not be tired?!' Rei thought, looking at Hotaru. Rei was putting together a breakfast while Usagi watched and read the latest Teen magazine.   
"Rei, when we get to where we're going, do you think we'll have to go to school?" Usagi asked.  
"Since we're starting our last year of highschool, I imagine so. I think it will be great, Usagi, I'll get to   
go to school with boys this year." Rei said and sighed.  
"I just wonder if I'll fit in." Hotaru said, coming in.  
"We all will." Said Rei. "Because we're starting new."  
"Hai." Hotaru said, and yawned.   
"What's for breakfast, Rei-chan?" Haruka called from in the other room.   
"Fried eggs and toast." Rei yelled back.   
"Honestly, Rei, I don't understand why you have a TV if you don't like it." Hotaru said.  
"Usually the people who come over like it, Hotaru-chan." Rei replied, putting eggs and toast on a plate for Usagi.  
"Eat." She ordered. "Does anyone want milk?"  
"Yes!" Said Micharu, Haruka and Usagi.  
"I'll have orange juice." Said Hotaru, disgusted by the thought of milk.   
"Okay, come on, it's ready!" Haruka and Micharu came in and sat down.   
  
About midway through breakfast, Sailorpluto appeared in the kitchen, timestaff and all.   
"Have some breakfast, Pluto?" Haruka said.   
"It's time to go," Pluto said, and opened the gate of time.   
"Um, that's a no, not until I finish my breakfast."   
"Come on, Haruka. Take your toast with you," Micharu said, she was ready to go, and had been for a long time  
now.   
  
Even though Haruka grumbled all the way, Micharu got her into the gate. They landed gracefully, except for Usagi and Haruka, who landed on their butts.   
"Hey!" Haruka yelled, outraged. "Where the hell did my toast go?!" Hotaru giggled. Usagi, however, had crumbs  
on her face and blushed heavily.   
"I guess I can't kick that habit." Usagi said.  
"Yup, your surely one sandwich short of a picnic." Rei said, and winked.   
"So, where are we, Setsuna?" Hotaru asked, looking around. It seemed that they were in a park by a school.  
"Oh, that's your school." Said Pluto. "It goes up to grade 14, so Micharu and Haruka will be in the same   
school as you. There's a large apartment over there that you can share, I've already registered you at the school. The apartment key is right here. You can duplicate it for each of you later." Pluto handed Hotaru the key. "I also got you money." Pluto handed the money to Haruka. "Use it wisely, I'll check up on you all in a few days. School doesn't start for about a month, I've written it on your calendar. Ja ne." Pluto jumped backwards into the time gate.   
"Did she say that apartment?" Usagi asked.   
"Hai, number 6." Hotaru said, looking at the key, which had a 6 printed on it.   
"Wow, I've never seen money like this, how do you suppose we use it?" Haruka asked.  
"I don't know, we'll just tell everyone that we're foreign exchange students." Micharu suggested.   
"Let's go," Rei pointed to the apartment complex, and they started walking towards it.   
***  
  
"Holy God this place is huge!" Haruka yelled when Hotaru opened the door.   
"I get first choices on rooms!" Usagi yelled, and ran into the hallway.   
"After all this, you'd think she would have been phased." Hotaru said, and walked down the hall to find a bedroom of her own.   
***  
  
When Hotaru first saw the light violet room, she knew it was the right one for her. Setsuna must have known   
this when she picked out the apartment. Hotaru looked around it, and noticed that the closet was full of   
clothes. 'Setsuna really outdid herself this time.' She thought.   
"Hotaru! Rei and I are going to go see the sights, wanna come!?" Usagi yelled from the kitchen. 'Still the same  
Usagi.' Hotaru said, and sighed, walking out of the room to go with Usagi and Rei.  
  
"Okay, I need a map." Usagi said.  
"I don't think they make maps of places like this," Rei said, and Usagi facefaulted.   
"I guess your right." She said.   
  
While Hotaru, Usagi and Rei were deep in conversation, not really paying attention to the scenery, Usagi bumped  
into someone.   
"Gomen, I wasn't paying attention." Usagi said. The boy she had bumped into had black hair tied in a ponytail.   
"Weak onna." Hotaru heard him mutter.   
"Who are you calling weak?" Hotaru asked, drawing quite a few stares from his four friends.   
"Injustice, how dare you talk to me, onna?!" He yelled.  
"Wu-man! Chill!" Said a boy with brown hair in a long braid. "She didn't mean any harm!"  
"Yes she did." Said Rei, lightly.   
"I see we haven't been properly introduced," He said, "I'm Duo Maxwell, at your service. Wufei is the one you  
bumped into," he said to Usagi.   
"Quatre Rabera Winner," A boy with blond hair said, "The two silent ones are Trowa Barton and Heero Yuy." He said, pointing to a boy with light brown hair and one with messy dark brown hair.  
"I'm Usagi Tsukino, and these are my friends, Rei Hino and Hotaru Tomoe." Usagi said, introducing them.  
"Your new here, right?" Quatre asked.  
"Yup, just got here today." Usagi said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Do you speak?" Rei asked Trowa.  
"..."  
"I'll take that as a 'no'" She answered herself, "How about you," She asked Heero.   
"Um, Miss Hino?" Duo said, "You don't want to mess with that one, he's hostile." Duo said. "You guys want us to   
show you around or something?"  
"Sure! That would be great!" Usagi yelled. "Do you guys know any good place to get some icecream?" She asked Quatre.  
"ICECREAM? Did you say ICECREAM?" Duo yelled. "I LOVE icecream. Quatre, will you buy us some icecream, PLEASE?"  
"Well..." Quatre seemed to be thinking very hard.  
"Do it, Quatre, if it will make him shut up." Wufei said.  
"I suppose,"  
"EXCELLENT." Duo stated, and they started walking.   
***  
  
"Ouch," Hotaru said while they were walking. She took off her right shoe. "I think Micharu gave me the wrong  
shoes. I don't know whose shoes these are." She told Rei.  
"Weak woman." Wufei muttered. Hotaru took off both of   
her shoes and hit Wufei over the head with one. Trowa and Heero stared at her.   
"OW! THAT HURT, YOU KISMA!!!" Wufei yelled holding onto his head.   
"It serves you right, if I had a gun I would shoot you." Hotaru said.   
  
They finally arrived at the icecream parlor and sat down. When the clerk asked Duo what he wanted, he ordered  
almost the whole menu, the same with Usagi. Wufei, Trowa and Heero ordered nothing. When the clerk asked what Hotaru wanted, she said a cola smoothie.   
"This is an icecream parlor," the clerk said, "You don't want anything with icecream?"   
"Icecream has milk in it, I don't like milk." Hotaru countered.   
"But you won't get your calcium, you'll be weak!"   
"HA!" Wufei yelled,  
"Omaeo o korosu," Heero said, he had a gun pointed at the clerk. "Get the woman her smoothie, or would you   
like us to leave?"  
"One smoothie, coming up." Said the clerk.   
"Um, Heero, we're not leaving, not without my icecream." Duo said.  
Hotaru yawned, and said nothing..   
"I knew that it would catch up with her," Rei said.  
"What are you talking about?" Usagi asked,  
"She didn't sleep at all last night, when you were snoozing away in that comfortable bed, Hotaru was loyally   
answering phone calls and lying for you..."  
"Lying about what, up all night where? I'm confused." Duo asked, stuffing his face with icecream.   
"I don't think we should tell you..." Rei said.  
"It's okay, Rei-chan, go ahead." Usagi said, licking her icecream cone. "Go on, besides, I'm not *that* Usagi  
anymore."   
"You look like the same Usagi to me..." Rei said. "Okay, Usagi has had some bad luck with boys."   
"Ha." Usagi said, and then, "Go on,"  
"Anyway, her boyfriend, Mammoru, cheated on her." Again Usagi added a fake laugh. "So we got our friend, Setsuna to bring us here."   
"So where exactly did you come from?" Asked Quatre.  
"Another dimension."  
"What?"  
"The past."  
"Oh." Said Quatre. Usagi was now on her second scoop of icecream.  
"So where do you two play in on this?"  
"I went to Rei's house at 1 o'clock in the morning, and Hotaru came over when Rei called her. She answered all  
the phone calls and did all the lying. Unfortunatly, I don't think they all believed her." Usagi said.   
"She doesn't lie very well." Rei said.  
"And she hits hard." Wufei added.   
"And she's sleeping." Said Heero.  
"Yup." Usagi said.   
***  
  
"I think we should go home now, Haruka and Micharu are probably worried." Usagi said, half an hour later.  
"Okay, you may have the honors of waking Hotaru up." Rei said.  
"You can."  
"You."  
"No, Rei-chan, I insist that you wake her up."  
"You will wake her, Usagi."  
"Why don't you just let her sleep?" Quatre said.  
"Brilliant! Now, how do we get her home?"  
"..." Trowa said.  
"..." Heero added.  
"You could carry her." Quatre said.  
"Or you could." Said Usagi with a smile on her face.  
"Duo could" Said Quatre.  
"I am not worthy!" Duo yelled, "Not worthy!! Heero will."  
"..." Heero picked up Hotaru's light body, and  
they walked out the door.   
***  
"Where have you been?!" Haruka yelled, when they came in.   
"This way, Heero." Usagi said, leading Heero into Hotaru's chosen room.  
"Yeah, and you were where?" Haruka said. "Hello? Am I a wall? Who's he?" Heero put Hotaru on the bed, and Usagi closed her door.   
"This is Heero Yuy. We met him and his friends today and they treated us to icecream." Usagi said.  
"Hotaru ate icecream?"  
"No." Rei answered.  
"Thanks Heero." Usagi said, Heero grunted a reply and left.   
  
  
"So, did you have a good time?" Micharu asked.  
"Yep, now we know where the icecream parlor is!" Usagi said.  
"I'm going to bed." Rei said.  
"Not me! I'm wired!"  
"We're going to bed, too." Said Micharu.  
"I'm still wired, with nothing to do." Rei, Micharu and Haruka left and Usagi sat on the couch. Out of her   
pocket, she took a crumpled picture of Mammoru.  
"Mamo-chan." She whispered and touched the picture, then she tore it in half and threw it into the fireplace.  



	3. Ch2: Faces in the Fire

***Chapter 2: Faces in the Fire*  
**By: Kohan

*Two weeks later* (AN: I mean since last scene ~_^)  
  
Hotaru woke up in a heavy sweat, and when she opened her eyes, she realized that it was light out.   
"Shimatta..." She muttered to herself, "I must have overslept" Hotaru got out of bed and walked clumsily to the  
door and into the bathroom. "Shower..." She said, in a daze, and undressed. The warm water didn't help to wake  
her up, so she turned it a little colder...colder...colder... "EEEE!! COLD!" She yelled when the feeling   
suddenly hit her. Turning the warm water up again, she washed, and silently dried herself. Still a little tired,  
she dressed and brushed out her hair.   
  
Hotaru looked outside, the light seemed to be fading, but that was impossible. She opened the window, and saw  
the sun going down. "What the..." She looked at her watch. 7 o'clock! How could she have slept all day? Then she remembered the little sleep she had gotten the night before, Rei's comment on how she would make herself sickif she didn't get more sleep, and Micharu's insistent nudges for her to go back to bed. 'Why the hell didn't anyone wake me?' She thought, walking into the kitchen. Unfortunately no one was there.   
"Good evening, Hotaru-chan" Micharu said from behind her. "We were just going to have some dinner."   
"Why didn't you wake me?" Hotaru asked.  
"Setsuna came again this morning," Micharu said, ignoring Hotaru's question. "Here, have some orange juice."   
Hotaru gratefully took the glass Micharu provided. "Everyone's out on the balcony, getting ready to eat. Come  
join us." It was more of an order then a request, so Hotaru followed the older woman out to the balcony.   
***  
  
Rei watched, disgusted, as Usagi ate her spaghetti. "Usagi, I thought you were trying to start a new life here?" She whispered, not wanting to draw attention from her other guests.   
"I am, Rei-chan! You try eating spaghetti cleanly!"  
"Everyone else seems to be doing it," Rei sighed, and leaned on one elbow. Just then, Micharu came out with the  
garlic bread, followed by Hotaru who looked a little surprised, if not stunned, that they had 5 dinner guests.   
"Good to see you up, Hotaru," Haruka said, grabbing the garlic bread from Micharu. Micharu frowned and grabbed the basket back and told Haruka that she may only have one piece for now.   
"Do you want some milk, Hotaru?" Duo asked, his face fullof spaghetti. Usagi seemed to think this was funny, while Hotaru found it less amusing.   
"Very funny, Duo." Hotaru said, and sat down heavily.   
"Spaghetti, Hotaru?" Asked Micharu.  
"No I think I'll just have some of Haruka's garlic bread." Haruka frowned and looked at *her* basket of garlic bread.  
  
There was a crash below the balcony and Haruka, Rei and Micharu jumped up to see what it was. Micharu gasped. (Yes, she gasped!)  
"A demon!" Something dark climbed up the wall to the balcony, It was only swirling darkness, and what they supposed to be a mouth opened, prepared to speak. Heero already had his gun out, and Haruka had her hand on her heshin wand.   
"I want destruction and fire." Said the demon. "Give them to me now!"   
"Over my dead body!" Haruka yelled. "Uranus crystal power! Make-up!"   
"Neptune crystal power! Make-up!"  
"What the hell?" Whispered Duo, as he watched Haruka and Micharu heshin.   
"Mars cry-"  
"Saturn cry-"  
"No!" Uranus yelled to Rei and Hotaru, who had their heshin wands out, ready to heshin. "You two get out of here!" she yelled.  
"Are you crazy!?" Rei asked.   
"Give me destruction and fire, and there will be no bloodshed!"  
The monster was saying, but being ignored. By then, Usagi had transformed in a single flash-heshin.   
"You and you," Uranus said, pointing to Duo and Heero. "get Hotaru and Rei out of here."  
"Uranus! This is my fight!" Hotaru yelled, she was getting mad now, and Rei wasn't in a much better state. Duo   
grabbed Rei's hand, but Heero didn't bother being courteous. He grabbed Hotaru around the waist and dragged her along.  
"Let go of me!" Hotaru yelled to Heero. "Haruka! You know this is my battle!" Uranus, however, was doing her world shaking attack on the demon, and didn't pay the 'upset' Hotaru any mind.   
"Deep Submerge!"   
***  
  
"I can walk!" Hotaru yelled, Heero let go of her. Rei was still trying to work her way out of Duo's strong grasp,  
her legs didn't happen to be as long as his, and he was walking very swiftly. They walked onto a deserted   
basketball court, and as soon as they stopped, Duo crossed his arms and looked square at Hotaru and Rei. Heero, however, took the more forward approach.   
"What the hell was that?" He yelled, "Would you mind telling  
me what the hell is going on?""We would really like to know." Duo said.  
"I *told* you we were soldiers!" Rei said. "We have powers,"  
"And," Duo pressed.  
"And what? I don't know! We come from a different dimension!" Rei said. Hotaru still wasn't talking, but she was standing very angrily next to Rei with a disgusted scowl on her face.   
  
In the distance, Hotaru could see a figure approaching, and as it came closer, she could make out the features of a girl.   
"Hi!" The figure called.   
"Oh no," Heero whispered,  
"This is just our lucky day!" Said Duo  
"Is she friend or foe?" Hotaru asked.  
"She's friend, I think...to some of us."   
  
When the figure finally got up to them, Rei had managed in hitting Duo twice on the backside of the head for   
pulling her away, and Hotaru had managed an almost perfect impression of the Heero deathglare.   
"Konnichi wa, Heero-kun!" The girl said, "Duo-kun," Heero grunted and Duo waved.   
"This is Relena Peacecraft," Duo told Hotaru and Rei,   
"Hi," Relena said, "and you are?"   
"I'm Rei Hino, this is Hotaru Tomoe."  
"I want you to take me back, right now, Duo." Hotaru said, Duo looked at Heero unsurely. Heero shrugged, and moved back a pace from Relena. Relena closed the distance between them and latched onto Heero's arm.   
"Yeah, now would be a good time," Duo said, noticing Heero's obvious discomfort.  
***  
  
"Tell me, O silent one, how did you manage to get rid of Relena Peacecraft?" Duo asked Heero, they had fallen behind Rei and Hotaru, who were walking rather swiftly themselves. Heero grunted, and clicked his gun, which he still held in his hand.   
"Oh," Duo stuffed his hands in his pockets, "That makes sense.   
  
Duo and Heero watched as Rei and Hotaru went inside, and then Usagi came out, running clumsily.   
"I suppose you would like to know what that was all about."  
"We got a mild response from Rei, and I think Hotaru has learned some new defenses." Duo replied.  
"Oh, so you know..."  
"Yeah,"  
A moment of uncomfortable silence passed and then Usagi broke it by saying her goodbyes.  
"Well, thanks, you guys, I hope they aren't too mad at Haruka."  
"I think Rei got most of her anger out on my head. Where do you girls learn to hit so hard?"   
"It's in our genes." Usagi said. "Ja ne!"   
  
Usagi pranced into the house, where she saw Rei sitting on the floor, stareing intensly into the fire.   
"Watcha doin' Rei-chan?" Usagi asked, but got no answer, not even an eye blink. She was in a trance...  
***  
  
Hotaru sat in her bedroom, on her bed, clicking one of her lamps on and off. It was her way of showing that she was mad. Haruka, who was walking to the bathroom, saw the flashing light and stood in the doorway.  
"Hi, Hotaru-chan." She said meekly. Hotaru didn't say anything. "You aren't mad at me, are you?"   
"Take an educated guess."   
"I didn't want you two to get hurt, you were obviously the demons target!"  
"Look, Haruka," Hotaru said, putting down the lamp, "I'm not mad at you because you tried to save me. That was my fight."  
"I know... Do you forgive me?"  
"Hai. Just don't do it again."  
"I wouldn't dream of it," Haruka mumbled, leaving, she walked into the living room, where Micharu and Usagi   
were sitting on the couch, watching Rei, who was watching the fire. Haruka went over and sat down next to Micharu.  
"What's going on?" She asked. Usagi shrugged, and they sat for a few minutes in silence.  
***  
  
"What did you see, Rei-chan?" Usagi asked later that night, when Rei had come out of her trance.  
"Faces." Rei said quietly.  
"What faces?"   
"I saw Chibi-Usa, Neo Queen Serenity and King Edymon." Rei said and stopped, "And I saw Ami and Makoto...they were talking to Setsuna."  
"You don't think they'll try to come here do you?" Asked Micharu.  
"They might."  
***  
  
AN: Okay, minna! Time to clear up some confusion that might be happening here :) The reason that Usagi didn't have Minako, Ami and Makoto come with them is because they obviously knew about this if they were calling Rei-chan's house at 1 o'clock in the morning, and Usagi knew they knew, so that's why. I know some people want this fic to be a Heero/Usagi fic, but personally, I don't like that paring, so it won't be...sorry. *Kohan looks at all the Heero/Usagi fans and laughs nervously* Anyway, sorry that chapter was kinda short, but at least we   
got some action, right? Right????   
  
Luv you all!  
-Kohan  



	4. Ch3: Haruka's Mission

Chapter 3: Haruka's Mission  
By: Kohan  
Disclaimers: You know what I'm going to say...  
***  
  
"Usagi-chan, let go of me! I said I don't want to come!" Hotaru said, trying  
to pull free of Usagi's grasp.   
"You need to get out more, Hotaru," Usagi said, "Anyway, I told them that we  
were *all* coming."  
"Micharu! I said NO!!" Haruka was saying to Micharu, she was being pulled   
along, much like Hotaru. "I am not going shopping with you."  
"Yes, you are."  
"I could stay here, Usagi...in case Setsuna comes." Hotaru pleaded.  
"No. If I'm going, your going." Haruka said. "The way I will manage is  
to find a Sailoruranus doll." She said.  
"But there won't be any because there aren't any Senshi here except us, and   
nobody knows about us." Rei said.  
"Exactly." Haruka said, with an evil glint in her eyes. 'She's cracked.'   
Hotaru thought.   
"Come on, it will be fun, besides, Setsuna gave us more money, and now that   
we know how to use it, we can SPEND it!!"   
"Usagi needs it, we all do." Micharu said.  
"No we all don't!" Hotaru had no wish to spend her day going through every   
store imaginable...  
***  
"We're meeting them here in about five minutes." Said Usagi.  
"So we're early?" Rei asked, "This *is* a new you, Usagi, I'm impressed."  
"Thank you, I try."   
"How are you going to do it, Hotaru?" Asked Haruka.   
"Do what?"  
"Manage through this horrible, awful, no good, very bad day?"  
"I don't know...I guess this day can't be that bad, at least I don't have to   
spend it all by myself with someone like D--"  
"We're here!!!" Duo yelled, he and the other four boys were approaching.   
"I take that back, it's ten times worse being stuck here with the real Duo."  
"You sound sour, Hotaru." Usagi said   
"I am sour." Hotaru whispered.   
"Well don't be, today's going to be fun...Hi guys!"   
Duo had a skip in his step, as well as did Quatre. Trowa and Wufei looked   
very harassed, while Heero looked oddly smug.   
"Hi, Usagi." Said Quatre.  
"I will only be happy if we stop for food." Duo said.   
"What's with gun-boy?" Rei asked.  
"The only way I could get him here was to tell him that we would go to the  
gun shop." Duo whispered.  
"..."   
"Yeah, well your lucky, I have *two* that didn't want to come." Usagi said  
"That's nothing, your forgetting Wu-man and Trowa."  
"I told you not to call me that, Maxwell! My name is Wufei! Wu-fei!" Wufei   
yelled.  
"Okay, Wu-man." Wufei started chasing Duo around the square, yelling something  
that sounded oddly to Hotaru like 'I'm going to chop off that braid and hang  
you with it.' "Eeeep!" Duo yelled.   
"Could this day get any worse?" Whispered Haruka to Hotaru.  
"Don't say that, Haruka!" Shouted Micharu, "YOU'LL RUIN IT FOR US ALL!!"  
"C'mon! Wiffie, Duo, we're going!" Usagi yelled to the two who were still  
running around like mad chickens.   
"MY name is WUFEI!"   
  
***  
  
Usagi was looking in a window of a shop that was called 'Stuffed Animal Mania'  
"OOOOOooohhhh..." She said, looking at a particular fuzzy plush thing. "Hey,  
Haruka! This is the plush store! You can look for your Sailoruranus doll here."  
Haruka came over, and while Usagi was still looking in the window, went in.  
"There is no way I'm going in there." Said Duo.  
"Yes you are, let's go." Usagi grabbed his hand and pulled him inside. Hotaru,  
Micharu and Rei followed, however the others figured it was better to save  
the life they had at the time.   
"No! No! Let go of me! No... Oh, how cute..."   
"See?"   
  
Rei picked up what looked to her like a stuffed chicken. Mumbling something   
like 'cheep', she put it down and walked to the back of the store. Haruka   
wasn't having much luck in finding her prize, however, and she was getting   
rather flustered at the thought.   
"I don't believe this...we were so popular!" She said.  
"Maybe they'll have one in an antique store." Hotaru suggested, which made  
Haruka frown even more. "I'm getting out of here, this place is creepy."  
  
"A little bunny!" Duo said, rushing over to the front desk. Usagi laughed   
nervously, she wanted to go to other stores too, but Duo seemed to like this  
store very much. The store clerk looked at Duo oddly and then looked at Usagi.  
"He's never seen little bunnies before." She lied.   
Just about that time Rei walked out with Hotaru, the few words that Usagi   
caught were 'Cheep bastards.' From Rei. Usagi turned back to Duo, who was  
examining the pink plush carefully. 'Unbelievable, he's worse then me!'  
  
Rei came out of the store, followed by Hotaru. Trowa, Wufei, Heero and Quatre  
were standing not far away from the door.   
"Too intense for you?" Quatre asked.  
"Ha, that doesn't begin to describe it." Said Rei.  
"Weak women." Muttered Wufei.  
"You want to come in?" Rei asked. "There are lots of cute chicken things in   
there."  
"No."  
"Come on, Wufei," Rei said.  
"I do not have to prove that I am not weak to a woman."   
"Well th--"  
"OW!" Wufei yelled, Hotaru had just kicked him in the shin.   
"You just proved that you are weaker then most women I know. I've never heard  
a man say 'Ow' before." Said Hotaru.  
"Please, stop fighting," Quatre pleaded.   
  
"Haruka, Micharu...can we go...I'm getting tired of standing around here."  
Usagi said to Haruka and Micharu, who were standing by the front door.   
"What about braid boy over there?"  
"I'm sure he can take care of himself...He's not responsive to me at the   
moment. Besides, we're just going to the next store, right?"  
"Okay, lets go then." Micharu said, opened the door, right outside, Usagi   
could see Rei and Wufei arguing, while Quatre tried to stop them. Hotaru was  
standing next to Heero listening to Wufei tell them how stupid women were.  
Heero had let a small smirk escape his lips at Wufei's ramblings, while Rei,  
who had been deprived of arguing with Usagi, released all her fury at Wufei.  
"Hi guys," Said Usagi, "did I miss something?"  
"Wufei was just describing what a stupid woman was made of." Hotaru said.   
"Quatre, they're not going to stop." Said Heero  
"I hate to see people fight!"  
"Leave them be," Haruka said, "Rei-chan needs some excitement, I thought she   
might explode if she didn't get it all out."  
"Where's the Braided baka?" Asked Heero.  
"Still looking at pink bunnies,"  
***  
(2 stores later)  
  
"Look, Haruka, It's the antique store." Said Hotaru, "Now we'll find your   
Sailoruranus doll and you'll be happy."   
"And I can get a taste of your past lives!" Duo said, he had joined them again at  
the last store. Wufei and Rei weren't speaking to each other, and if Haruka  
said anything it was 'Do you think this store will have my doll in it?'.  
Hotaru was about to shoot Duo and Wufei both, and Quatre was having a hard   
time keeping her from stealing Heero's gun to do so. Heero was getting quite  
annoyed at the fact that they hadn't yet gone to the gun shop, and Usagi   
wasn't helping things. They all walked into the antique store, Trowa silent  
as usual, and Rei and Wufei were shooting glares to kill at each other.   
"I'm going to find my doll." Said Haruka, and she walked off to look for a   
Sailoruranus doll. Usagi and Duo walked off to look at some posters, and  
Wufei and Rei stayed on opposite ends of the store.   
  
Heero looked at a hand held...something. "What the hell is this?" He asked  
Hotaru who was standing right behind him looking at a old lamp.   
"Oh, that's a hand held can opener." She said.   
"Can opener? What a stupid idea."   
"Well how else do you expect to get a can open?"   
"We don't have cans here." Said Heero, "We buy our food fresh."  
"But what if there was like a disaster or something?"  
"We haven't had any trouble with enemies for two years now." Heero examined   
the can opener closer. "That is until you people showed up."  
  
"HA HA! Michi! I've found it!" Haruka yelled, "A Sailoruranus doll!"  
"That's great 'Ruka." Micharu said, she was looking through an old microscope.  
Haruka looked at the tag of the doll, on it a name had been written. It said  
Minako.  
"The only freaking Sailoruranus doll in this whole bloody city and it had to   
be that baka's." Haruka muttered.   
  
Rei crossed her arms stubbornly and ignored Quatre.  
"Your friend is a moron." Rei said.  
"No, he's just...difficult."  
"He's a moron."  
"I don't want to argue." Quatre said.  
"Yeah well, guess what? I think I just heard Haruka say she found a Sailoruranus  
doll. That's the only reason we're here, right?" Rei replied coldly, she was  
still mad about Wufei, and she didn't feel comfortable being in the same room  
as him. Rei walked off to find Haruka, who was at the front desk buying her  
Uranus doll. Quatre followed Rei, rubbing his temples. This was not going his  
way.  
  
"Look, Rei! The only Goddamn Sailoruranus doll in the whole city and guess   
who it used to belong to? Just guess." Haruka said when Rei came up.  
"Calm down, Haruka."   
"This is not my day,"  
"Obviously. Whose was it?"  
"Minako's." Haruka said. An image of Minako talking to Sailorpluto flashed   
across Rei's mind. She shook her head to clear it, but the image didn't go   
away.   
"I know how you feel. I just want to go home."   
"Me too." Said Usagi, who had just walked over "Duo is really getting on my nerves."  
"So what's this, Usagi? Does it do something?" Duo asked, coming up to her.   
He had a old lunch bag in his hands.   
"I'll go find Micharu." Said Haruka grabbing the bag which contained the   
Sailoruranus doll.   
"Only one problem." Said Duo. "We're not done yet."  
"Why?"   
"We have to go to the gun shop, for Heero. If we don't he'll kill me."  
"Fine...we can go in the linen shop while he's looking at...guns." Micharu  
said. "I need a new pillowcase. Haruka got wine all over one."  
"What was she doing with wine in bed?" Usagi asked.  
"If you don't ask, I won't tell."  
***  
  
"I still don't know why you need a gun, Hotaru." Said Micharu. They were   
walking across the street to the Linen store so Heero could go into the Gun  
Shop.  
"Obviously we have a new enemy, Micharu." Said Hotaru. "If I'm in a public   
place I can't heshin in front of a whole bunch of people."  
"You don't even know how to use a gun!"   
"Yes I do! Ja ne!" Hotaru yelled as she followed Heero into the Gun Shop.  
"Who taught her to use a gun, Haruka?" Asked Micharu.   
"No idea," Haruka said, but she was blushing. Micharu knocked Haruka one with  
her purse.   
"Your coming into the linen shop with us so I can keep an eye on you. I'm   
very disappointed in you, Ten'ou Haruka."   
***  
  
AN: There you go, hope you enjoy. If you think this chapter is a little weird  
you can blame me ~_^. I stayed up way too late last night and woke up way too  
early, so don't expect this weirdness all the time! Wouldn't want you to get  
big heads!  
  
*Kohan-chan*  
  



	5. Ch4: Visions

Chapter 4: Visions  
By: Kohan  
Disclaimers: ...you know...  
***  
Micharu walked into the Linen Shop, she had Haruka at hand, and looked very  
aggravated.   
"What kind of parent must I be!?" Micharu asked Haruka.  
"I was joking... Micharu,"  
"Letting her go into a gun shop with a guy who doesn't have a death wish...   
what was I thinking?!"  
"Micharu..."  
"No... This wasn't *my* fault..." Micharu glared at Haruka. "*You* did this!"  
Haruka looked very embarrassed at being held by the arm by a raving mad woman.  
Usagi turned around, as did Rei and sighed.   
"She's at it again," She whispered to Rei.  
"Yes, looks like she's really mad this time."  
"Wonder what she'll do?"  
"Probably make Haruka go get Hotaru... Which I don't think is right, Hotaru's  
like...18 by now, and it's not like she hasn't lived several times." Rei said.  
Duo had heard their hushed conversation and had a strange look on his face.  
"'hasn't lived several times'?" He asked, Usagi looked around and then acted  
like she didn't know what Duo was talking about. Rei turned red at almost   
exposing the secret of their immortality to the young soldier.   
  
"Would you shut up you onna! I am tired of your constant bickering!"   
"Don't speak to her like that, Chinese-boy!" Haruka yelled at Wufei, pulling  
forcefully on her arm to free it from Micharu's grasp.   
"WEAK ONNA!!! I COULD TAKE YOU DOWN IN 5 SECONDS!!" Wufei yelled, getting   
quite a few stares. Rei acted like she didn't know the eccentric Chinese, and  
Usagi just stared. Duo, however went over to Wufei and started making motions  
with his hands that said to cut it out.   
"What are you doing, Maxwell?! You know I can't speak sign language!"   
"I'm not through with you yet, China man!" Haruka yelled, she was again in   
the hold of Micharu, who was dragging her to the bed section of the store.   
***  
  
Heero entered the shop with Hotaru behind him. He immediately went to the   
front desk where they carried the really lethal weapons. Hotaru came up to the  
desk too, and pointed at a sharp looking dagger.   
"Could you hand that to me, please?" She asked the clerk. The clerk opened   
the case and handed Hotaru the dagger. Hotaru weighed it in her hands, Heero  
looked at her, to him she was extremely hidden. Hotaru ran her finger across  
the blade of the dagger, drawing blood. She laughed at herself, Micharu thought  
that she was going to buy a gun. Yeah, right. The clerk then got very uncomfortable  
and went to the back room, out of sight. 'So I do bleed,' Hotaru thought, she  
had wondered that since she had been reborn again. 'Am I immortal?'   
"Why...?" Heero said,  
"Just checking the blade," Hotaru said quietly, which was a lie of course.  
Heero looked back at the guns, which, he saw from the first moment were not  
worth his time or money. 'What a wasted day,' he thought, he looked again at  
Hotaru's spilled blood, so red...  
***  
  
"Usagi, I don't actually want to be in this store." Said Rei, "I personally  
don't take an interest in linen."  
"I know, but where else can we go... we're going home after this... it's  
almost 5 o'clock."   
"I hope we don't get stuck walking home in the rain," Rei said, looking at   
the darkening sky. An image struck her mind, it was of Prince Edymon with the  
golden crystal... he was sitting on a throne. Rei closed her eyes and cleared  
her head.   
"You okay, Rei-chan?" Usagi asked.  
"Yeah. I'm good."  
  
"Haruka, what do you think, white or off white?" Micharu asked, holding up   
two pillowcases.   
"Why don't you just get one that matches the other one we have?"   
"Well they both would match," Micharu said   
"I don't care which one, Micharu, I really don't."  
"Well I just thought you might care, since your the one who will be using it."  
"..."  
  
Quatre looked at Micharu and Haruka from a different isle. 'Just wrong...'   
innocent Quatre thought. He and Trowa had been listening to the two all day,  
and watching them. He had one word for people like that... wrong. Quatre   
shivered, and walked to the door and let himself out. He was surprised to see  
Wufei and Duo standing outside, he hadn't seen them come out.  
"Hi Quatre, me and Wu-man were just standing out here... talking." Duo said.  
"Don't call me Wu-man." Wufei muttered, he had lost a lot of energy on this   
trip between Haruka and Rei.   
"Anyway, Wu-man was just telling me how he thought that women would never get  
enough sense to do anything useful, isn't that right, Wu-chan?"  
"I told you NOT to call me that!" Wufei yelled.   
"Please don't fight," said Quatre.  
"We're not fighting, Quatre, we're having a discussion."   
***  
  
"Are you going to buy that?" Heero asked Hotaru.  
"No," She said, and wiped her blood off with a shirtsleeve. "Are you done?  
Because it's 5 o'clock."   
"Hai." Heero said, and Hotaru put the dagger down on the counter, and walked  
out the door. The sun had since been covered by acceding clouds, and Hotaru  
looked around nervously. The two had to walk in front of an alleyway to get  
to the other side of the section of stores where the Linen Shop was located  
around a corner. While crossing the sidewalk in front of the alley, Hotaru   
heard a crash of garbage bins, and she spun around to face the alley. Heero  
did the same, and had his gun out in a flash. Up from the ground rose a body  
of shadows, a creature that the had seen once before. Heero took a shot at  
it, but the bullet passed through it harmlessly.   
"Saturn Crystal Power! Make-up!" Sailor Saturn, done with her heshin, struck  
a pose, and then grabbed her Silence Glaive from space. The shadow creature  
sent out ribbons of red power, which snaked towards Heero and Sailorsaturn.  
"Silence Wall!" Saturn blocked the attack with her wall of purple power, and   
the red ribbons burned up in the power. Heero moved closer behind the wall  
and put away his gun, seeing no use for it. "Silence Glaive Surprise!" The   
creature went down, but was still alive after Saturn's attack. She ran  
up to it, even after Heero's wish against it. She positioned her Glaive above  
the throat of the creature, ready to strike if it made a move.  
"Who do you work for?" She asked with rage.  
"eeee..." The creature replied, then lifted it's hand and hit Saturn across the  
face, she looked back to it, taking the blow easily, even though it drew blood  
under one eye.   
"Don't talk that shit with me! I know you can speak, do it!"  
"The Dark Prince..." The creature said, it's head swayed, unstable.  
"How did you get here, what do you want with us?"  
"The Time Gates... we want the defenders of the White Princess..."  
"Why?"  
"Then the path to the Princess will be clear..."  
"Why do you want the Princess?"  
"eee..." The creature gasped, then it's body went limp and disappeared. By   
then rain had started to fall, and Saturn threw her Glaive into space.   
"Shimatta," She muttered before turning back to a stunned Heero.  
***  
  
"Did you hear that?" Whispered Haruka to Micharu.  
"Haruka, you are not getting out of this, I told you before..."  
"No, I'm serious!" Haruka said. Rei had also heard the strange noise, and so  
had the G-boys that were outside. Everyone looked around frantically. Micharu  
stopped talking long enough to listen, but the sound didn't come again.  
"It was probably just a cat knocking some garbage bins down or something," she  
said.   
"No... it sounded something like 'Silence Wall'"   
"Do you think Hotaru is in trouble?"  
"No, she can take care of herself. Do you think we should go look, though?"  
Haruka asked.  
"I'm sure Hotaru is fine." Said Rei, coming up behind the two. "She is 18,   
she can take care of herself. Besides, Heero's with her... he wouldn't let  
anything happen."  
"It's possible that your right, Rei. I hope so."  
***  
  
"Your bleeding." Heero said blankly. Sailorsaturn sighed, and looked at her  
purple boots. The Princess was wanted. She, herself was wanted... and all she  
wanted to do, or cared about, was going home. By that time it had begun to rain.  
Heero put his thumb on Hotaru's cut and wiped away the blood.  
Hotaru blinked at him. "That was a close one, Firefly." He said.   
"Yeah..." She said, and touched her face, still shocked at Heero's actions.   
"I have to warn Serenity," She said.  
"Serenity?"  
"Usagi... The Princess."  
"Yes. That might be a good idea." Heero said, and Hotaru and he walked to the  
Linen Shop to talk to Usagi.   
***  
  
Outside the shop, Duo, Wufei, Quatre and now Trowa were standing in the rain.  
Heero stopped outside to talk to them, while Hotaru continued on inside.   
Haruka and Micharu saw Hotaru when she came in, and it was no wonder that   
Micharu practically jumped on Hotaru at the state she was in. Since it had   
been raining, Hotaru was soaked to the skin, and even though Heero had wiped   
the blood away, her cut had begun to bleed again.   
"What happened!?" Micharu yelled, Usagi and Rei heard and came over.  
"Heero and I...ran into a little...trouble on the way here..."  
"Ha! I *told* you, Micharu!" Said Haruka, Micharu ignored her.  
"Well are you okay? You look like Hell!"  
"Thanks." Hotaru said, frowning.  
"That's not how I meant it, Hotaru..."  
"Where's Usagi?"  
"I'm right here," Said Usagi from behind Haruka.  
"I got some information out of the creature that attacked us. It said that it  
worked for the Dark Prince, and I asked it why it wanted the protectors of the  
Princess. They want you, Usagi."  
"How did they get here?" She asked, stunned.  
"The Time Gates" Hotaru said, "Though I don't know how, Setsuna is there right  
now, I don't think anything could have gotten through."   
"I think it's best if we go home, and contact Sailorpluto." Haruka said.  
"That's the first good idea you've had all day." Said Micharu, and she walked  
outside. Haruka shrugged and followed, along with Rei, Usagi and Hotaru.  
***  
  
The G-boys were standing outside, each was quiet, thinking his own thoughts.  
Some looked at the sky, like Duo, some, at the ground, such as Wufei, but   
each was thinking. Micharu came out, followed by the others, and suggested   
that they all go to the apartment to wait for Setsuna. Quatre agreed for them,  
seeing that the others were still deep in thought, and they walked off through  
the rain to the apartment.   
  
Upon entering, everyone took off their shoes, as customary in Japanese homes,  
along with their coats. Many shook water from their hair, and they all sat  
down in the large living room. All except for Hotaru and Rei, who had gone  
into the bathroom to clean Hotaru's scratch.  
"Haruka is going to call Setsuna in a minute." Said Rei. Hotaru nodded, Rei   
had a piece of cotton in her hand, as well as the hydrogen peroxide. "I've  
never seen a cut like this," She said. "you may have a scar, but I don't see  
so, because it has already started to heal. You didn't use your powers on it,  
did you?"  
"No," Said Hotaru.  
"Maybe it was the rain."   
  
"Hotaru, Rei!" Haruka called, "Sailorpluto just...appeared...out of nowhere..."  
Hotaru and Rei came out of the bathroom, Hotaru's cut was now clean. Sailorpluto   
was standing in the middle of the room with her time staff.   
"Hi, Setsuna, that was fast." Said Rei.  
"What?"  
"Oh, I was just about to call you," Said Haruka, "I hadn't yet."  
"So... why are you here?" Asked Usagi.  
"To tell you... the Inner Senshi and Mammoru are here." Mouths dropped open  
at the words.   
"You let them through?!" Said Micharu  
"Here where?" Haruka said.  
"Here?" Was what Usagi said. Hotaru, Rei and the G-Boys remained silent.   
"I had to let them in! Mammoru is the Prince of Earth! He ordered me to!"   
Sailorpluto defended herself.   
"You didn't let any monster creatures in, did you?"  
"No, but it's possible that they may have slipped through while I was letting  
the others in. Why?"  
"We have monster troubles." Said Rei  
"So, do the Inners know where we are?" Asked Micharu.  
"No, but it won't be too hard to find out. Your not listed in the phone book,  
but when you start school, they will be able to get at your information there,  
I'm afraid."  
"Thank you, Pluto." Said Haruka. Pluto left.   
"Shit." Said Micharu.  



	6. Ch5: Prelude to the Hunt

Chapter 5: Prelude to the hunt  
By: Kohan  
Disclaimers: Are really annoying. You know I don't own jack.  
***  
  
"Shit," Said Micharu again.   
"Don't worry about it," Said Duo cool like, "They don't know where you are, besides,  
didn't you say these people were your friends?"  
"We're not so sure anymore," Said Haruka.  
"Just stay here...hidden." Duo said, Heero grunted. "Do *you* have something  
to say?"  
"They can't stay here, holed up like--"  
"Animals." Trowa finished for him.  
"I personally don't care if they see us." Hotaru said, "So they know we're   
here, big deal. They'll find out anyway when school starts."  
"Hotaru has a point," Quatre said. "But if you don't want them to bug you,   
you could make sure they don't see you when you come home, or leave."  
"And you shouldn't be alone if your with them, just in case they are hostile."  
Wufei said.  
"I didn't think you cared, Wufei." Said Rei  
"I don't,"  
***  
*1 1/2 weeks later*  
  
"Here," Haruka said, and threw Usagi a silver backpack, she threw Rei a red  
one, and Hotaru a purple one.   
"What are these for, Haruka? School doesn't start for another week." Usagi said.  
Rei rolled her eyes, and Hotaru smirked a little.   
"Usagi...I have been telling you all week that school starts tomorrow!" Rei said  
Usagi looked a little confused, and then looked embarrassed.   
"It's okay Usagi," Said Hotaru, "Haruka must have picked up our schedules as  
well as her and Micharu's."  
"I wasn't worried about that..."  
"I'm sure you've finally taught yourself how to add and subtract negative   
numbers by now, right?" Said Rei,  
"REI!!" Usagi yelled, tears streaming down her face. "That wasn't very nice..."  
"I'm kidding!"  
"So our secret will be out then," Hotaru said quietly, her and the others had  
managed to stay out of eyeshot and earshot of the other Senshi, and hadn't   
heard from them at all.   
"Yeah, but at least we'll be able to go out and *do* something." Micharu said.  
Haruka handed everyone a schedule, and looked at her own.  
"What!? Setsuna put down Fine Arts for my elective class!?"  
"Haruka, that's mine." Said Micharu, trading schedules.  
"Oh," Haruka blushed.  
"I'm in foreign language," Said Rei with a frown.  
"Nani, nani, nani??!!" Usagi was saying, staring at her schedule. "I already   
took most of these classes!" Rei peered at Usagi's schedule,  
"Yeah, but remember you didn't pass that one...or that one...that one you   
flunked too,"   
"Thanks a lot, Rei,"  
"hmmm..." Hotaru said, studying her schedule.  
"What hmmm?" Said Haruka.  
"Setsuna put me down for advanced classes, and I'm in the 6th year math class."  
"5th year?!" Usagi yelled, "Nani?! That's two years forward, Hotaru!"  
"I know..." Hotaru frowned a bit, and put down her schedule. "I only have   
Language with you guys."  
"What a rip off,"   
"Hey, your in my math class, Hotaru," Said Haruka, Hotaru smiled faintly.   
"I suppose that Setsuna put you in a higher class because you've learned so  
much, Hotaru," Said Micharu quietly.  
"Maybe."  
***  
  
"I can't sleep, I'm too excited!!!" Usagi yelled from her bed, and then suddenly  
unexpected, a tear streaked it's way down her face. 'Then I'll have to see the  
others...' she thought, then suddenly got up and walked to her desk. On it, there  
were several pictures, she turned them all over except a recent one, which she  
smiled at. It was a picture of her, Rei, Hotaru, Micharu, Haruka and the G-boys.  
Setsuna had taken it during her last visit. Usagi was standing in the middle  
next to Wufei, who wasn't smiling at all, and Quatre. Duo was standing in   
back, making bunny ears on Wufei, and the others were lined up. Setsuna had  
even persuaded Heero to get in the picture. Everyone was happy, as it should   
be.   
...  
  
Haruka gently poked Micharu to see if she was awake. No response. Haruka quietly   
got up from bed and tiptoed across the room to her trunk. In it, she pulled  
out a little stuffed bear, and carried it back to bed, and got in. Holding it  
close, she closed her eyes to go back to sleep.  
"Still carrying on with that bear, ne, Haruka?" Said Micharu, Haruka grew rigid.  
"What makes you say that?"  
"For one thing, I was awake when you went to get it,"  
"Oh, I just can't sleep, that's all."   
...  
  
Hotaru turned on her lamp and looked at a cut on her leg. She had gotten it  
a few days ago when another monster attacked them. It wasn't healing very well.  
She put her hand on it, and a purple light shone from her hand. Suddenly she  
pulled her hand away, the cut remained.   
"Damn." She whispered. Why weren't her powers working? Hotaru bit her lip in  
annoyance and tried again. The same result. Was it because she was overly nervous,  
maybe, because she had too many things on her mind? Or had she simply lost the  
ability to heal herself again? Hotaru sighed and put a bandage on her cut, she  
then crawled into bed and fell asleep.  
  
...  
  
Rei woke up early (she had set her alarm clock to the wrong time), and rose  
quietly from bed. She looked at the clock, and swearing lightly, walked into   
the bathroom where Hotaru was looking at a cut on her leg.  
"Didn't you get that a few days ago?" Rei asked her, Hotaru looked up, startled.  
"Yes."  
"Why don't you heal it?"  
"I...I can't," Hotaru said. Rei was a little shocked to hear these words,  
"But you healed Duo a few days ago when he cut himself with Wufei's sword,"  
"I know,"  
"Here," Rei said, pulling out a razor blade, "try and heal me," She cut herself  
on her finger, and held it out in front of Hotaru. Hotaru was a little surprised,  
but put her own finger on Rei's. A purple light shone, and Rei pulled back.  
"It worked on me," Rei said, and noticed Hotaru was swaying a little, obviously  
dizzy. "You okay?"  
"Yeah. I was just going to get dressed," Hotaru said, sticking a new bandage   
to her leg. "What do you have first hour?"  
"Social Science." Rei said, "You?"  
"Math, the 'nicest way to start the day.'" Hotaru said grimly, and walked out  
to get dressed. Rei shrugged and turned on the shower.   
***  
  
"USAGI!!! I'm not going to say it again!!" Rei was yelling at a snoring Usagi.  
Usagi simply turned over and yawned, then continued to sleep. Rei had tried   
shaking her, she had tried yelling. There was only one thing that she hadn't   
tried, and she really didn't want to do that. There was a pitcher of water by  
Usagi's bed, and Rei picked it up. Rei then dumped it right on Usagi's face,  
Usagi immediately bolted up and looked around.  
"NANI!!??" She yelled.  
"Usagi, school starts in a half hour, you weren't up all night looking at pictures,  
were you?" Asked Rei, noticing the pile of pictures on Usagi's desk.   
"No, Rei-chan, I was not, I just happen to be tired."  
"Yeah, well, I figured you might like some breakfast," Rei said and left, leaving  
Usagi to get dressed, which she did, rather hurriedly in her new school uniform  
which had been sitting in her closet since she and the others came here. The  
uniform looked much like Rei's old school uniform, having the same design, but  
where there was gray on Rei's old uniform, there was white on this one, and the  
skirt and shoes were black. Usagi brushed her hair and went out to breakfast.   
Hotaru, Haruka and Rei were sitting at the table, all wearing their uniforms.  
(Haruka had insisted on wearing the boys' again) Micharu was in the process  
of making several pieces of toast and pouring several glasses of orange juice  
at the same time, and Usagi went over to help her.  
"My, my, Usagi-chan, you look rather nice in that school uniform," Micharu said,  
"Thanks," Usagi said, taking her juice to the table.   
...  
  
"We're going to be late!!" Hotaru yelled, running out the door after Rei at   
full speed. Micharu and Haruka quickly followed, why hadn't they gotten a car?  
Was the only thought running through Haruka's head, while Micharu was just   
trying to put on her left shoe. Usagi came running out, seconds later, still  
with a piece of toast in her mouth.   
  
Hotaru and Rei reached the school at about the same time, and that was, thankfully,  
a few minutes before the first bell rang. Usagi, Haruka and Micharu barely made it.  
Usagi was busy catching her breath when she spotted five familiar faces. She  
waved, being too out of breath to speak, and Duo spotted them and they came over.  
  
While Rei and Duo were busily comparing schedules, Usagi was trying to figure  
out if she had any *new* subjects.   
"This is so unfair of Setsuna, I was supposed to start all over."  
"Yeah, but Usagi, if you don't know the basics, then you can't possibly expect  
to get the stuff the teachers are going to teach you." Hotaru said, looking at  
Wufei and Heero's schedules. "You know what, though? I bet you anything that Ami  
will be in my math class." She said with a frown.  
"Shit happens." Duo said, and the first bell rang, "Speak of the devil!" He said,  
and moved on to his first class, which was History. Rei followed him, turning  
at room 802, which was the Science room. Heero, Trowa, Haruka and Hotaru truged  
off to the Math room, while Micharu walked to the Arts room with Quatre, and, much to   
Wufei's dismay, he and Usagi walked to the Language room.  
  
Hotaru suddenly heard a farmiliar voice behind them, and would have stopped dead in  
her tracks, if it hadn't been for Haruka's strong hold on her arm.   
"Look at those cute boys," The girlie voice said, then a more educated voice said,  
"How can you tell they are cute, you can't even see their faces!" Hotaru had   
started to bring up her pace, but Heero put his hand in front of her to slow   
her down.   
"Rule number one," he said, "never speed up when you sense danger."  
"Right." Said Hotaru with false braveness. "I knew that."  
"You know, I think that boy is carrying a gun," The voices went on, "See? You  
can see it in his pocket." Heero turned to Haruka and Hotaru and smirked, Trowa  
kept his head forward, but a little smile played on his lips.   
***  
  
AN: Okay, gomen minna, that this took so long to get out, but...I have good   
excuses!! But, you can thank my math teacher for this chapter, since she put   
me in such an awful mood, that I decided to write (I write when I'm mad or sad,  
or in an extremely bad mood [tells a lot about me, right?]), she gave me a D+  
on my grade check. I was absent for two weeks, hello people!! I turned in all my  
flipping makeup work, and did she enter it in the grade book?? I think not!!   
Then she went on to tell me that I had a flipping test to make up that I didn't   
even know about! I mean, grrrr!!!! That makes me soooo mad.... okay, sorry, just   
getting my feelings out here... calming down. Well, I hope *you* people have  
a nice week :) Ja ne!  



	7. Ch6: Teachings

Chapter 6: Teachings   
By: Kohan  
Disclaimers: If you really want to go see my disclaimers, check out the other  
chapters for crying out loud!!! GRRRRR!!!  
***  
(Hotaru, Haruka, Trowa and Heero):   
  
Haruka opened the door to the classroom and they walked in, while turning at  
a desk (and well concealed by Trowa's shoulder), Hotaru took a look at the  
group that had been following them in the hall, and she wasn't surprised at   
all to see Ami. However, Makoto and Minako were also coming into the classroom.  
"No way are they going to make it in here," Whispered Haruka to Hotaru, Hotaru  
only nodded, surprised that they had signed up for such advanced classes. There  
was a message on the blackboard for the class, for the teacher wasn't visible  
yet. The message read: 'The seating chart is posted on the left wall, please  
check it and take your seat quietly.'  
"Great, I can see this teacher is going to be a stick in the mud," Hotaru heard  
Minako say from behind her. Hotaru quickly went up to check the chart, and   
found her name quickly. 'Oh, no.' she thought, seeing that she was placed next  
to Ami, 'Just my luck.' When she returned to where the others were standing in  
a corner, Haruka saw her scowling.   
"What?"  
"I have to sit by Ami,"  
"In the back?"  
"No, in the front."  
"Did you see where I sat?"  
"I didn't look." Hotaru said, and Haruka went up to check the chart. When she  
came back, she informed Trowa that he would be sitting next to a Motoki and that  
Heero would be sitting next to Minako.  
"Trust me, this is going to be trouble." Haruka said.  
"I wonder if the teacher will let us change," Hotaru said hopefully.  
"Doubt it," Said Trowa.  
"You certainly look at the bright side of things, don't you?"  
"I am looking at the facts." Trowa said, Haruka grunted and went to her seat.  
Heero leaned back against a desk.   
"So what do I have to know about this Minako girl, Firefly?" He said to Hotaru.  
"She can be very eccentric,"  
"Clashy, ne, Heero?" Said Trowa.  
***  
(Usagi and Wufei):  
"I thought you said we had Language with them!!!" Wufei yelled at Usagi.  
"So I read my schedule wrong! Gimme a break!! I think we have History with   
them...or something..."  
"I can't believe I got stuck in this class with you!" Wufei said, completely  
fuming at Usagi, who was doing her obvious best to make due with what she had.  
"Sit down, and shut up!" Barked the teacher who came in. Usagi ran around   
frantically trying to find a seat, and eventually plunked down next to a brown  
hared-brown-eyed boy.  
"Hi! I'm Tsukino Usagi! How are you?" Usagi said,  
"Er, fine?" Said the boy, shyly.  
"Oops, I mean, who are you?"  
"My names Miboshi Ryo,"   
"See that Chinese boy over there? That's Wufei, he's a little rude sometimes,  
but we love him. Are you new here? I am. I just got here this summer with my   
friends Rei, Hotaru, Micharu and Haruka." Usagi said, Ryo looked a little   
nervous about Usagi.   
"I told you all to be quiet!" The teacher yelled, "What is your name," The   
teacher pointed to Usagi. "Yes, you!"  
"Tsukino Usagi, sir."   
"I will be teaching Language to you, that call  
yourselves students. I take it you think that you may speak whenever you wish,  
am I correct, Miss Usagi?"  
"No, sir. I was just overexcited, it won't happen again. I promise."  
"Fine. Take out your Language books and open to page 4, we will start with the  
basics." He said to the class. Wufei caught Usagi's eye and smirked   
menacingly. Usagi returned the smirk and stuck her tongue out at him.   
***  
(Rei):  
"I will now be taking roll." Said the teacher, Rei was sitting alone, at a   
desk all by herself with her science book, ready to begin work.  
"Ainomegami?"  
"Here!" Called a short brown hared girl in the back of the class.   
  
About 10 names later:  
"Hino?"  
"Oh, here!" Rei called, and a few names later, the teacher looked puzzled, down  
at his list.  
"Is there a Maxwell Duo in this classroom?" He asked the class.   
"He is in the History room, sir." Rei said.  
"You know him?"  
"Yes sir."  
"Would you kindly retrieve him for me? Some students are rather bone-headed  
at times." Rei got up and walked to the door. just what she needed, to go   
chasing Duo around all over the school. Rei sighed and pushed the door open.  
***  
(Micharu and Quatre):  
"We will be now studying the fine art of oil painting." Said the teacher to   
her class. "Since you are in the advanced class, I will not be asking you to   
draw anything as senile as shapes, or fruit, or anything silly like that." she  
moved to the front of the class. "Your first assignment is to draw a person  
close to you, you can draw more then one, if you so choose, and these are your  
only utensils." She held up a charcoal pencil and some oil paints and a canvas.  
"Do with them as you wish, and please note that this assignment will be graded.  
You have until the end of the class period to work, as well as tomorrow and   
Wednesday." The teacher then sat down at her desk and for the first time, Micharu  
noticed bunches of paints and such on the work tables. Micharu took a seat next  
to Quatre, for he was the only one she knew there.   
"Who are you going to paint, Micharu?" Quatre asked.  
"I was thinking about Haruka or maybe Hotaru, I don't know... maybe both? Who  
are you going to paint?"  
"I don't know."  
"Why don't you paint your friends?" Micharu asked, Quatre blushed a little.   
"Because I don't know what they would say."  
***  
(Hotaru, Haruka, Trowa and Heero):  
  
"Didn't you read the message?" The male teacher asked, coming in. "It says to   
take your seat quietly!" The students grumbled and sat down, Hotaru dreading  
it with every step she took. Haruka gave her a reassuring smile and a small  
wave, which didn't help to boost her confidence any. Hotaru sat down and looked  
at the male teacher with pure hatred. To put her in a spot like this! Man, if   
she had her Silence Glaive right now... But just then her thoughts were interrupted.  
Ami quietly sat down and took out her binder.  
"Hello, Hotaru-chan." She said quietly, not looking up to meet Hotaru's eyes.  
Hotaru scowled, something she had learned to perfect since she had met Heero.  
"Mizuno-san." She said formally, and luckily the teacher had just began to   
talk again.   
"This is your warm-up." He said and pointed to a side of the blackboard which  
had a few problems on it. "I generally give you 5 to 10 minutes to work on it.   
Then we correct it. You must have a red correcting pen or pencil. Another color  
will not due, I suspect you will want to get one tomorrow. Begin."   
Hotaru took out a piece of paper, frowning at the teacher's rudeness and forwardness  
to the class, and she took a sidelong glance at Haruka, and knew she felt the  
same. There were five questions, and each was a review to Hotaru. Everything  
was. She finished a minute or so after Ami and they sat in silence.  
  
Heero was sitting at his desk, trying not to listen to the babbling girl beside  
him. He had gathered that her name was Minako, which she said several times,  
that she had just come here from the other side of Japan, a lie he knew, and  
that she was extremely happy at being able to sit by a boy. "A cute one, too!"  
Heero glanced at Hotaru and saw that she was trying her best not to look at  
the person seated next to her, but every so often he saw her eyes flick to the  
blue hared girl with a strange look in them. Was it hate? Fear? Heero didn't   
know, there was still so much that Hotaru hid. Within a few minutes, Heero was  
done with the warm up, and Minako was looking at the first problem and scratching   
her head, obviously very concerned.  
"Do you know how to do this, I don't seem to remember." She said, Heero didn't  
'seem' to think that she was meant to be in this class. In fact he thought it  
was all a huge lie. He went it over in his head, what was this girl, dense?  
This was 8th grade math, for crying outloud! If she didn't know it now, she  
never would be able to figure out the 5 year change they would be making in  
the class.  
  
"I trust you all have had enough time." Said the teacher. "Afterall, these problems  
were just review." He said. "Switch papers with the person seated next to you  
and take out your red correcting pen or pencil." Everyone did so, Hotaru switched   
with Ami and saw Ami's neat handwriting in blue on the paper. Hotaru took a   
simple glance at the paper and saw that Ami had taken several shortcuts through  
the problems. Then the teacher began to put up the answers, and they corrected  
the papers.  
***  
(Rei):  
  
Rei knocked on the History room door. A very tall girl with her pink hair in  
a ponytail opened it, and as soon as Rei found the instructor, she went up to  
her.   
"Excuse me, mam." She said, "I'm here to get Duo Maxwell, he's in the wrong  
class..."  
"Yes," Said the teacher, "Thank you, he's quite a bit of trouble, a thing to   
dread at the end of the day, when I do actually have him, I suppose." She said  
tiredly, and pointed to Duo, who was seated at a desk, he looked very much like  
he was pouting. Rei walked up to him.  
"I think you've caused enough trouble, don't you?" She asked. Duo got up, if   
not reluctantly.   
"Yeah well, they love me here." He said, and followed her out the door.  
  
"You know, Miss Hino, I think *you* need to lighten up." Duo said, catching up  
with Rei's quick pace. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you had a temper."  
"Really? How did you gather that?"  
"It was just a lucky guess, I suppose." Said Duo, walking beside her. "I tend  
to not get on very well with teachers,"  
"I hadn't noticed this," Rei said,  
"They all seem to have nothing good to say, besides, what do you need history  
for?" At this, Rei turned around.  
"I *am* history! That class is probably the only place in this whole city that  
reminds me of my home!"   
"This isn't my home, either," Said Duo, quietly,   
"But do you know what it feels like to walk around a city which was once your  
home, but with different people, buildings and houses?" Rei felt like she was  
going to cry, but what was this, she never cried.  
"Okay, I'm sorry." Duo said, quickly flinging his arms around her. Rei closed  
her eyes, waiting for the tears to come, but they never did.  
"Um, Duo?" Rei said, her voice muffled. "You can let go of me now."  
***  
(Usagi and Wufei):  
  
Usagi sat quietly at her desk, for about the next hour,  
reading the information the rude teacher had asked   
them to. How she longed for the next peroid. As if in an answer to her prayers,  
the bell rang. But Usagi's face fell as she saw her next class. Math.  
"I want you to finish reading tonight, no excuses!" The teacher yelled.  
"Did you finish, Ryo?" Usagi asked the boy.  
"Almost." He said, and picked up his things. She followed him out the door where  
she saw Wufei conversing with Heero in quick low voices.  
"Hi Heero, where is Hotaru?" Usagi asked Heero.  
"Over here, Usagi-chan." Hotaru said, and motioned Usagi over. "There is only  
one class left until we have our class together." She informed her. "Then we  
have lunch."  
"You going to math, Usagi?" Heero asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Don't make the teacer mad, he's a real rotten guy." Hotaru said. Usagi was   
afraid of that.   
  
(After second peroid):  
  
Usagi had made it through math, un-scratched as she was. Now she looked at her  
schedule, then to her map, then back to her schedule to see where the history   
room was. She didn't want to get lost.  
"This way, Usagi-chan" Ryo said to her, and they picked a path through the   
people on their way to their classes. Wufei had lost her when he went in for  
his regular classes at second peroid, muttering something like 'Thank God I   
only have two classes with her'. Usagi wasn't that hurt, afterall, what could  
you expect from someone like Wufei? Usagi just shrugged and continued to   
follow Ryo.  
  
When Usagi entered the classroom, she felt a surge of uneasiness as she saw  
Makoto, Minako and Ami. But her feelings were quickly mulled over by that of   
happiness at seeing her friends there. Rei waved her over, and Usagi was happy  
to see that everyone was in this class except Haruka and Micharu, which was  
understandable.   
"Quiet, all of you. Take your seats," The teacher said, peering down at them  
from the front of the room. "History," He said. "can be an amazing thing. Or,  
it can be a cruel thing." At this, Rei and Hotaru exchanged glances. "We know  
that history can not be changed, but it can be repeated. Here's something for  
you," Said the teacher, "'History is much like an endless waltz, the three beats  
of peace, war and revolution go on forever.'" Duo felt a bang in his stomach.  
'What did that guy say?' He thought. Trowa immediately thought the same thing,  
while Quatre looked only a little nervous. Heero looked like he was about to  
say something to the teacher, and was opening his mouth when Hotaru put her  
hand over it.   
"Not a good idea." She said and let go.  
***  
AN: Okay, sorry that took so long to get out to you, but I've been a bit busy   
lately. That chapter, I guess, introduced a new problem for them, but I'm sure  
they can handle it. Sorry for the short note today, it is 5:45 in the morning,  
and I am tired.  
  
Date sent out: Wednesday, March 14, 2001 


	8. Ch7: Hidden Truths

Chapter 7: Hidden Truths  
By: Kohan  
Disclaimers:   
AN: Aw geez, you people...Why didn't you tell me sooner that I was spelling   
Michiru's name wrong!! I feel like an idiot...aw geez. Well, I guess from now  
on I'll be spelling it 'Michiru' instead of 'Micharu'. I thank Aika of the Blue Rogues   
for bringing my sad mistake to my attention. Thanks again!!  
***  
  
Duo was extremely confused. Number one, he had thought that the history teacher  
was a lady, not a man. Number two, where the hell did he get that line from?  
Duo nudged Heero with his elbow mouthed to him that this guy isn't the history  
teacher. Heero rolled his eyes and mouthed that he *was* the teacher and that  
Duo was just being paranoid. Duo turned around leaned over to Rei.   
"This is not the History teacher, am I right?"  
"This is the History teacher, Duo, before you were in the other History class  
that isn't your own."  
"But she said she would see me at the end of the day."  
"Duo," Rei said, pulling out his schedule. "You *do* have her at the end of the  
day. Just not for History."   
Duo scratched his head and muttered something like 'I knew that.' and turned  
back to face the teacher, who had his arms on the front of Duo's desk and was  
peering at him with small eyes.   
"Hello. This is the History class, and I'll be teaching it all year. Would you  
mind staying forward in your seat and listening to what I have to teach you?"  
"No, I wouldn't mind, I mean."  
***  
  
Throughout the day, and through lunch, Usagi grew more nervous at the sight of  
her other friends, who hadn't so much as spoken a word to her, Rei was amazed at how  
thick Duo could be sometimes, and how cute he was when he *was* thick. Wufei   
continued to think about the fact that soon he would be at Quatre's mansion, and  
hopefully in his bed, All Haruka could think about was that soon she would be  
eating, and Michiru, Trowa and Quatre were quite enjoying themselves. Hotaru   
continued to twist her fingers around and around, which she did when deep in   
thought, even throughout lunch until Heero muttered something about arthritis.  
  
In his last class, Heero was not very happy at all. At lunch he had received a   
note, complaining to him about not paying his school entrance fees, which he   
was *planning* to do just this afternoon. Of course, he would have no problem  
hacking into the school's system and clearing all the pilots, but the baka   
Relena had grabbed hold of him while walking in the halls and hadn't let go of  
him since.   
***  
  
At the end of the school day, which everyone was exhausted from, Duo suggested that  
they all go out for ice cream, but Quatre pointed out that they all had homework,  
and that he *knew* Duo had homework. Duo just smiled a lopsided grin, and everyone  
walked to Quatre's to do their homework. Hotaru fell back a few steps to talk  
to Haruka, who was walking behind with Michiru.  
"I saw everyone, Haruka." Hotaru said. "Ami is in almost all of my classes, and  
I have two classes with Minako and Makoto."  
"We saw them too, but they didn't even acknowledge us." Micharu said.  
"Ami said hello to me," Hotaru said, Michiru seemed to ponder this for a few  
minutes, and then decided to give up.  
***  
  
"I say we go for Rei first, she had that thing for Mammoru." A voice said.  
"Not a good idea." Replied another, her hands moving frantically over a keyboard,  
"She is too loyal to Usagi..."  
"Then who?" Said the first voice.  
"Hotaru. She will not be hard to persuade." Said a new voice.  
"She has an unexpected ally," The second girl said, "it may be harder then we  
think."  
***  
  
"Relena, let go." Heero said, dragging his arm out of Relena's grasp.   
"Why don't you like me Heero?"  
"Clingy." Duo coughed out. "Clingy."  
"And your not!?" Rei said.  
"Only sometimes," Duo pointed out. "Wu-man! I missed you almost all day!" Duo   
said, spotting Wufei and acting like he hadn't been there the whole time.  
"Pissing me off." Wufei muttered.  
"Bad day, Wu-man?"  
"My name is Wufei, Maxwell." Wufei reminded Duo for the 21st time that day.  
"How was *your* day, Heero?"  
"It started bad, and ended bad." Heero muttered. "I had a blond barking my ears  
out at the beginning of the day, now I have one trying to cut the circulation  
off of my right arm." At this, Duo burst out laughing, and everyone sweat dropped.  
"Your friend Minako doesn't shut up easily. I had to listen to the baka all through  
math. 'Heero, how do you divide so and so,' 'Heero, why can't you add this to get  
a negative number' 'Heero...'"  
"Yeah, well, it happens." Usagi said blankly, as Relena departed.  
"You sound like your day didn't go well, Usagi," Michiru said.  
"It's *school*, school is bad."  
"Yeah, okay," Quatre said, opening the front door, they all walked in and sat   
down in the front room. Usagi, Rei, Duo and Michiru sat at the small coffee  
table in the center of the room, while Hotaru took the floor and pulled out her  
heavy math textbook. Heero and the others stationed themselves around the room  
in various chairs and on couches.   
  
"Pissing me off." Wufei muttered. Usagi was poking him with her pencil.   
"Yeah, well, guess what, I need your help."  
"Can't you ask someone else to help you, onna?"  
"No. How can X equal 2 if Z is squared and equals 7?"  
"Did you square Z?" Wufei said impatiently, knowing the answer already.  
"Did I have to?"  
"To find the value of X you must first square Z, then divide the answer by 2.  
Then you would have X."  
"I knew that." Usagi said, "I was just trying to refresh my memory." Usagi said,  
innocently.  
"Yeah, right." Rei said.  
  
"I was not paying attention in History class, was he saying anything important?" Duo  
asked Rei.  
"No. He just babbled on about revolution."  
"Oh..." Duo said, then, after a few minutes, "We um, had no homework, right?"  
"Right."  
"I'm done." Hotaru said. Heads turned.   
"What?" Said Haruka. "I'm on problem 12."  
"I've done this several times before, Haruka."  
"That makes me mad! I want to be done!"  
"Well you would be done, if you weren't blabbering all this time, wouldn't you?" Heero  
said quietly. Almost everyone silently agreed. Suddenly, breaking the   
silence, the doorbell rang. It bounded off the walls, and into the ears of everyone.  
"That would be the doorbell." Said Duo. "I'LL GET IT!!!" He ran up to the door  
and flung it open to reveal 3 girls and a man standing outside.  
"Son of a bitch." Haruka muttered, seeing who it was. Heero was immediately on  
his feet, he had his gun ready.   
"Hi, Heero!" Minako said.   
"Usagi," Mammoru said. "Could I have a few words?"   
"Anything you want to say to me, you can say it in front of my friends, or it's   
not worth my time."  
"It's worth your time," Mammoru said, almost nervously, looking at Heero's gun. Hotaru  
had by then gotten up, also, and had her hand on her heshin wand. "I promise." Hotaru  
turned to Usagi.   
"Go, Princess, I'll keep an eye on you." She whispered. Rei stepped forward, but Haruka  
and Michiru caught her arm. Usagi nodded silently, and walked out the front door with   
Mammoru.  
"I need that, Heero." Hotaru said, pointing to Heero's gun. Heero handed it to her, which  
made the others stare. "Quatre, do you have a window that opens and looks out, I need to  
be able to see Usagi." Quatre nodded, and showed her upstairs and to a window that opened.  
Heero followed them, and from that view, Hotaru could just see Usagi and Mammoru, and hear  
what they were saying.  
  
"If you've come to apologize, then your wasting your time." Usagi said.  
"I haven't come to apologize, but to beg your forgiveness." Mammoru said, and got down on  
one knee. Usagi scowled down on him.  
"You baka." She said, "You think I would forgive you for what you've done? I will never   
forgive you."  
"I have come to seek you, because I know you will make a better Queen then just a stereotype  
Usagi."  
"What the hell are you talking about?" Usagi said, Mammoru got up, a little bit of rage   
burning in his eyes.   
"You mean to tell me, that you didn't even look at the girl who I was kissing?" Mammoru said.  
"You think I care who it was!?"  
"It was you, you stupid girl." Mammoru yelled. "Or, a copy of you, whom I could mold into the  
Usagi I knew would make a better Queen then yourself."  
"You sick bastard." Usagi said.   
"Don't," Mammoru said, "I knew that she wasn't the Usagi that was Queen, I now need you to   
believe in me. For the future."  
"You sick BASTARD!!" Usagi yelled. Hotaru turned off the safety of Heero's gun. Quatre was   
looking horrified.   
"Don't do anything you will regret later, Firefly." Heero said.  
"I won't. I've wanted to kill him ever since we've come here." Hotaru said.  
"I can't let you kill an unarmed man." Quatre said. "It wouldn't be right." Even though the conversation  
between Heero, Hotaru and Quatre took on a life of it's own, the one between Usagi and   
Mammoru continued.  
"I hate you Mammoru, and I will never be one of your sick pawns! I now see that  
you have corrupted Minako, Makoto and Ami as well. What did you do, brainwash them?!"  
"No. They came to me on their on free will, as you will, Usagi. They saw that I was only wanting  
what's best for our future, and that I'm doing the right thing."  
SMACK! Usagi had backhanded Mammoru, and a large, red welt was appearing on the side of his   
face. Usagi turned around and walked into the house, leaving Mammoru outside.  
A few minutes later, Minako, Makoto and Ami joined him. Hotaru, Heero and Quatre continued to watch.  
  
"You fool." Makoto was saying to Mammoru. "I thought the plan was to try and pursuade the others  
to come to our side, and then Usagi!"  
"I can change the damn plans!" Mammoru said. "I will get to her, or we will have to take  
her and her guardians by force!"  
"Over my dead body," Heero whispered.  
***  
  
"That's some scary shit, Usagi." Duo said after Usagi had returned. A few minutes later, Quatre,  
who was looking very pale, Heero and Hotaru came downstairs. Heero gingerly grabbed his gun   
back from Hotaru, who didn't look happy at all.  
"This is going to be bad."   
"What?" Rei said.  
"They said that they will take forceful actions to get you Usagi." Quatre said.  
"I could have ended it all," Said Hotaru bitterly, "Quatre wouldn't let me kill the damn  
bastard, though."  
"I would kill him any day," Wufei said.  
"I would rather you do it with the Glaive, Hotaru, then with Heero's gun." Usagi said quietly. Rei looked at  
her in surprise.   
"You really want Mammoru dead?"  
"Yes."  
***  
  
AN: Uh, yeah, so Mammoru has *other* plans...heh...Well, anyway, this chapter was kinda short I   
guess, but it sets you up for the next chapter. In my personal opinion, it wasn't as good as  
the others, but I guess that's okay for right now. Have a very GOOD weekend!  
*Kohan*  



	9. Ch8: Not Alone (part A)

***Chapter 8: Not Alone (Part A)***  
By: Kohan

Hotaru shifted her weight around on the couch, she was trying very hard not to suddenly lash out in crude verbal expressions at an unsuspecting object, such as the wall. For the last hour, she had been desperately trying to catch the eye of Rei or Haruka, but to no avail. Rei was caught in another argument with Wufei, and even though it was constructive, Hotaru thought it should be stopped, and Haruka was having a deep and serious discussion with Usagi, who looked like she was almost about to cry at the harsh treatment that she had been receiving from Haruka. Hotaru had listened for about the first half hour, when the things out of Haruka's mouth were new to her, such as 'don't do anything you'll regret,' or 'you might want to think this over before you go doing anything crazy,' but since then, the message had been repeated several times, but in different ways. Haruka was now at the stage of threatening, and Hotaru found that un-entertaining. 

Quatre was still looking very white, and he kept looking around nervously, glancing at Trowa once and awhile, but he seemingly kept looking at Heero, who had his gun out and was cleaning it. Poor Quatre, Hotaru thought, he didn't seem like he would be one to fight...To her, he seemed too innocent, and it was amazing...some of the stories she'd heard...But Hotaru wasn't thinking too much about Quatre, or Usagi even. She kept hearing inside her mind the voice of Setsuna, telling her what she had to do. But this was Rei's thing, knowing the future, mind reading and such. It was true that Hotaru had once seen Eternal Sailormoon in a vision...but that was before...much before.

***

Heero had finished cleaning his gun, and was now shooting his most deadly death glare at the bickering Rei and Wufei. However, both were so absorbed in their argument that they didn't even notice the stare that the perfect soldier was giving them. Duo was finding the 'fight' between his koibito and Wufei very entertaining, however, along with the fact that Wufei could very well be shot to death, judging by Heero's look.   
"Would you two just shut up!? I'm getting tired of listening to your constant arguments!"  
"This is not an argument, Yuy!" Wufei yelled. "We are having a discussion."  
"Huh, yeah." Rei said, not sounding too convinced.   
"Well, converse later. Hotaru wants to talk to you, Rei."   
_'What? How could he have possibly known...'  
_"Talk to me? About what?" Rei said.   
"Er, alone..." Hotaru said, Rei got up and Hotaru followed her outside. Hotaru looked at Rei. "There's something I have to do." She said. "Keep this for me?" Hotaru pulled her heshin wand out of her pocket and handed it to Rei. "When it disappears, you'll know that help is on the way."  
"What?" Rei asked, looking down at the wand, she didn't want to face up to what Hotaru was saying, for she had had visions of a fight. Bits and pieces of the ones she cared for being hurt by a dark prince. She still hadn't put two and two together enough to guess what they meant. Hotaru could tell by the look in her eyes, though, that she was beginning to see.   
"It's going to happen, Rei. You can't hide from it. I don't know when, and I don't know if I'll be too late, but I've got to do this. If I don't, well, I don't want to know what will happen." Hotaru went back inside, to leave Rei to think her own thoughts alone. 

***

"Heero." A voice said from the doorway. Heero turned around at the voice, "I'm leaving. Would you walk me home?" Hotaru said, she had her backpack over her shoulder. Heero nodded, and got up.  
"You leaving, Hotaru-chan?" Haruka said, she had since given up her talk with Usagi, seeing that she had almost brouht the girl to tears of boredom.   
"Yes, Haruka. I'll be seeing you." She said, Michiru waved a little, and went back to picking at her nails. Hotaru opened the door, and her and Heero left through it. They walked down the steps in silence, passing Rei, who was sitting quietly on them. She gave Hotaru a reassuring smile, and then looked down at the heshin wand of silence. 

"What's wrong, Firefly, you've never asked me to walk you home before." Heero said, as they walked along the paved road. Hotaru sighed heavily.  
"Mammoru..." She said, "isn't one to attack those he loves."   
"Nani?"   
"But Edymon...he's different." Hotaru said quietly. "There's no telling what he'll do."   
"What are you getting at?"  
"I have a power inside me...and it's going to come out. It's what Setsuna, um, Sailorpluto calls a powerup."  
"Hn."  
"You can't tell Haruka or anyone," Hotaru said. "they wouldn't want me to..."  
"Why not?" Heero demanded forcefully.  
"It's very dangerous." Hotaru stated simply. Heero gave her a critical look. "If Haruka knew...she wouldn't let me go through with it. If something happens...someone should be able to open the door. I changed my password, and made it so Haruka couldn't override the lock."  
"And you want to give me the password."  
"Hai."

***

Rei sat on the steps, studying the beautiful heshin wand that she had been given by Hotaru. She knew what Hotaru was going to do, and gave her a lot of credit in her mind. Never, would she be able to go through a transformation period by herself. She smiled a little. Hotaru wasn't alone now, Rei knew that Heero wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. But what about school? With the visions Rei had seen, she didn't think that they would be returning to it...how sad. Rei put the wand in her pocket and got up.  
"You look unhappy, koibito." Duo said from the doorway.   
"How long have you been standing there?"  
"Ever since Hotaru and Heero left." He said, and then added a hmmm, when a look of fear came over Rei's face. "Don't worry." He said, "I won't tell about your new toy." Rei got up.   
"It's getting late," She said, "but I don't think we should be going home just yet." Duo nodded in agreement, and followed Rei back inside.

***

Hotaru unlocked the door to the apartment and walked in, Heero close behind her. "Here." She said, "I'm writing down the password for you. Don't forget, your promised not to tell Haruka."   
"I always keep a promise." Heero replied. Hotaru handed Heero a piece of paper, and walked to the door of her room, where she punched in a few numbers on the keypad.   
"I don't know how long this will take me." She said. Heero put his hand under Hotaru's chin and made her look at him.   
"Don't get yourself hurt, Firefly." He said, and kissed her softly.   
"I...I...I won't." Said Hotaru, her door opened, and she stepped into her room. "Aishiteru, Heero." The door closed. 

***

"Rei, your sure Hotaru said it was okay to stay for dinner?" Usagi asked Rei about 10 minutes later.   
"Hai, Usagi..." Rei said, "I'm sure." Rei said absentmindedly. She had other things on her mind, and so did Haruka, judging from how she kept changing the subject back to Mammoru.   
"From what Heero says, Mammoru wants Usagi to be his Queen, ne? Okay, and he said that he would take her by force if she didn't come willingly. Well, I think she's made it clear that she's not going to come willingly back to him so..." Haruka trailed off, "Are you listening to me, Michiru?"  
"Yes, Haruka! I _am_ listening to you, go on, please!" Michiru said.  
"All I'm getting at is this: I don't think that it's a very good idea for us to be making contact with them anymore."  
"So, what are you saying Haruka? You want Usagi to stop going to school, is that it?"   
"I wasn't getting to that, no, but now that you mention it, that sounds like a good idea." Haruka said, looking happy to continue the conversation. But just then, Heero came in, and they also had to postpone the discussion for dinner. 

"So you made it all right, Heero?" Duo said, putting a rather large roll into his mouth.   
"Hn."   
"Back to the 'hn's' I see."  
"..."  
"Heero's just tired, probably." Rei said very quickly, "Duo, some of us would like some rolls, also." Duo grinned, and passed her the rolls.   
"I think that there must be some way to overcome this...problem...without getting anyone hurt." Quatre said. A few people stopped eating to look at the blond boy. "A suggestion, only."   
"Quatre, do you think we fight because we want to?" Michiru asked quietly.   
"Because we only fight when necessary...for example, if Usagi were to suddenly disappear out of her chair into a void or something, and be transported to Mammoru's dark lair, or whatever-you-call-it, then we would be forced to fight." Haruka said.   
"Wait, where _is _Usagi?" Rei said. Usagi's chair was empty, and the food uneaten. Very strange. (The food I mean ~_^)  
"She was here just a minute ago, wasn't she?" Said Michiru,  
"We have lots of food," Rei said, "I can't imagine her not eating food if there was such an oppurtunity."  
"_Rei_"  
"Sorry." Rei said, and leaned her head on her hand. Suddenly, from the sky (or celing) dropped a single envelope. On it, in green pen, was written this: To: Senshis. It landed in front of Rei.   
"What the...?"  
"Open it." Said Heero, and Rei did as told. Inside, in the same scrawly handwriting that Rei didn't recognize, were these words: 

_Senshis:  
Usagi has joined the Dark Prince out of her own will.  
To have the other Senshis, yourselves, join her, would  
be very nice as well. If you choose not to come, she   
may suffer greatly. For her sake, and yours, meet the  
Dark Prince at 1:00am in front of the city clock._

It had no signature, and no trace of where it had come from at all.   
"This is bullshit." Rei said. "'Usagi has joined the Dark Prince out of her own will', who wrote this crap?"  
"She could have be abducted." Duo suggested.  
"How? She was sitting right here." Michiru said, she had turned slightly paler.  
"She just left to get a breath of fresh air..." Rei said quietly.  
"We have to go. We should call Hotaru." Haruka said, dead set in her ways. She picked up the phone and punched in a few numbers. A few moments went by. "There's no answer."

***

AN: That took awhile, didn't it? Well, I was getting a little stressed over the end of the 2nd trimester of school...and my report card. But, I know it will be okay, because...I know it will. One of my compare and contrast essays got me an A, so that brought my L.A. grade up to a B+, so I'm happy with that. Plus, I was having some trouble deciding weather I was going to do L.A. Honors next year, we're regestering for school, and my L.A. teacher recommended it, and I talked it over with my folks, and I guess I'm doin' it. Anyway, enough of the excuses...but you're happy, right? I mean, I got this chapter out to you, even if it was a long wait...and if you are complaining about the wait, then I say: Tough.  
*Kohan*


	10. Ch8: Not Alone (part B)

***Chapter 8: Not Alone (Part B)*****  
**By: Kohan

AN: Hey, Minna! Okay, I need to clear something up here for a moment, thank you Rita for bringing this to my attention. I used the word 'koibito' for the relationship between Duo and Rei. The definition of 'koibito' is: lover or sweetheart. The definition _I_ am using is sweetheart, not lover. Thanks Rita!! Oh, by the way, you can thank my hairdresser for this chapter, she really pissed me off today.  
***

"There's no answer."   
"Huh?" Michiru said, shocked, she looked at the others. There was no expression of shock on Rei's face, nor Heero's, but everyone else was wide eyed.  
"I thought you said that you got her home safely," Haruka said, her eyes narrowing. She was looking at Heero.  
"I did."   
"She's probably just asleep or something..." Michiru said. "Don't you think we should contact Sailorpluto?"  
"Good idea, but my communicator is at home. We have to go back there anyway for Hotaru. Let's go." Haruka got up before Rei or Heero could say anything. If she hadn't Rei was sure she wouldn't have said anything anyway, but she was too worried about Usagi to think about how mad Haruka was going to be when they got home. Rei picked up her backpack and followed Haruka and Michiru to the door.  
"We'll come with you," Quatre said, and looked at Trowa who nodded in response. Haruka also nodded, showing that she would allow them to come, after all, they still had almost 6 hours until they were to meet the others. So, Quatre, Duo, Trowa, Heero and Wufei followed them to their apartment.

***

"What do you mean it's locked?!" Haruka yelled. She was desperately trying to open the door to Hotaru's room, (duh, it's locked, hello!).   
"Locked by _Hotaru Tomoe_ at _6:37_pm. Override un-authorized" The keypad continued to repeat. Haruka was beginning to be very frusterated. She had tried hitting it, she had tried every password she could think of, but noooo....the damn door would not open. Haruka finally gave up for a few minutes, and came to sat down in the living room, where Michiru was trying to contact Sailorpluto on her communicator.   
"So she's really doing it?" Rei whispered to Heero, who was sitting grimly on a barstool.   
"Doing _what_?" Haruka said, she had heard Rei.  
"Um..." Rei trailed off, because everyone's attention had been caught by a faint purple glow coming from under Hotaru's door.   
"She's powering up, isn't she?! Why didn't you stop her?" She looked at Rei. "Why didn't _you_ stop her." She was now looking at Heero.   
"It's her decision." Heero stated plainly.   
"Do you realize how badly she could get hurt?"  
"Haruka!" Rei said, "Don't you know that Hotaru needs this? She has so much power inside her that if she doesn't use it for something it could destroy her. Her body wasn't healing from injuries that she was getting, and she couldn't heal herself! Whenever she healed _me_, I could feel the power inside her, aching to get out!" Haruka looked a little taken back by Rei's sudden outburst, but sat back down.   
"She's right, Haruka." Michiru said, her eyes looking into Haruka's. "But she might be to late to help us." Rei suddenly remembered Hotaru's heshin wand and took it out of her pocket. It had started to fade from the base up. '_When it disappears, you'll know help is on the way_' But it hadn't faded very much, Rei was wondering if Hotaru was going to make it.   
"I can't get through to Pluto," Michiru said. "and it's nearly 10 o'clock" (time travels fast, ne?)

Everyone sat for a long while in silence, until it was broken by a loud sigh from Rei. "This is pretty bad, ne?" she said. Wufei rolled his eyes as if to say, 'you baka onna, of course it's bad.' Michiru nodded, and Haruka grunted something out.   
"If she would have listened to us, and not left...going places alone...I would never be so stu--" Wufei started, but was cut off by Rei.  
"My God! Wufei! Your ego! It's filling up the whole room, and sucking out all the air!" she yelled, glaring at Wufei. It, however helped break the tension in the room...however, in the next room, where Hotaru was, more then just tension was building up.

Hotaru lay in the fetal position on her bed. Her body glowed a faint purple color, and every so often, a faint humming could be heard. The air around her was thick with stillness. Her eyes were open, but they were blank, and she didn't move at all. Only her mind was active.   
_If there is a God...  
Please let him make me a bird...  
I want to fly away  
Far away from these problems...  
I want no more war, but forever there will be.  
In our war, there is no black and white.  
Only shades of gray._

The clock chimed the half hour. Rei again looked at Hotaru's wand. It was 12:30, and the beautifully crafted wand had only disappeared 4/5 of the way. Rei knew then that Hotaru wasn't going to make it in time for the battle. It was up to them now.   
"Duo..." Rei said, looking over at the braided boy who was in the process of bugging the hell out of the Perfect Soldier, "If things get really bad...I want you to leave...I don't want you to get hurt."  
"Don't worry, babe!" Duo said with a grin on his face. "I'm the Shinigami!! Nothing can defeat me."  
"Seriously." Rei said, with a big look on her face. Duo gave her the 'okay' look, and then checked the clock.   
"I think we should go, it's better to be early then late, ya know?" Duo said."  
"Duo's right." Said Heero. "Wouldn't want them to show up and find we're not there, would you?" Haruka nodded, and got up.   
"I'm going to transform first." She said. "Uranus crystal power! Make-up!" Super Sailoruranus opened the door. Rei jumped up.   
"Mars crystal power! Make-up!"  
"Neptune crystal power! Make-up!" Neptune and Mars followed Uranus out the door, and the Gundam piolets followed them.   
  
They had arrived at the site, with no sign of the others whatsoever. It was cold for a summer night, and Rei shivered in her sailor fuku. '_Where are you, Usagi?'_ she asked in her mind...things were beginning to look hopeless. The city clock struck one, and, as if on cue, a robed figure stepped out of the shadows.   
"You came. I am not surprised." Mammoru--the Dark Prince said. "When I captured Usagi, I realized that I had the perfect girl to bring you all to me, and now, we can join forces...we will be powerful together."  
"You baka!" Rei spat, "Thinking that we would ever join you, even if you did take Usagi, you should have known we would fight to take her back!"  
"This I anticipated." He said calmly, "So, I'm willing to strike a bargain. We fight, us," From the same direction Mammoru came, so did Super sailors Mercury, Venus and Jupiter. "against you. You win, you get Usagi back, and your troubles are over until the next monster comes along. We win, however, and, you join us...and your boyfriends? Well, let's just say that their troubles will be over forever." A small smile crossed his lips.   
"How could you?" Neptune was saying, her question was directed to the other senshi.  
"We have always envied your powers, Neptune and Uranus, especially little Saturn's...but with us at the back of the Dark Prince, we will become greater then even _her_." Sailorvenus said.   
"How do we know?" Mars said, "I mean, that you haven't already killed Usagi? Bring her out here...show her to us."  
"That was not part of the deal."   
"Do it, or the deal is off!" Wufei said forcefully.  
"As you wish," Mammoru said, and from behind him a pole rose, on it, Usagi was tied.   
"Usagi!!" Mars yelled  
"Usagi!" Yelled Neptune. "_You bastard._"  
"So our deal is on? Hell, I'll even be a fair sport and let you have the first shot at me. Go ahead, Neptune, show me what power you possess." Mammoru put out his arms, inviting Neptune to attack him.   
"Deep Submerge!!"  
"World Shaking!" The double attack flew towards Mammoru, but split a second before reaching him. Each seperate attack was now headed for Mercury and Venus. The unexpected hit knocked them to the ground.   
"Very clever...very clever. But you'll have to do more then that to defeat me!" Mammoru said, and a white ball of power blasted from his hand, narrowly missing Neptune, and coming back for a second round on Uranus. When it missed her, she let out a sigh of relief.   
"I never knew cape boy could do that!" She said.   
"Why don't you just blast the bastard down to hell, where he belongs?" Wufei asked, taking out his gun. Heero did the same, as well as Duo.   
"Flame SNIPER!!!" Mars' arrow was aimed directly at Mammoru's heart, he dodged it, and it flew off harmlessly into the background.   
"Oak evolution!" Jupiter called out the attack in a strange voice that Mars had never heard before...she could tell that this battle was not going to last very long. The attack flew around and around Mars, and she was being lifted up by electricity and leaves...it was pleasant, that is, until the crunching started. She felt like she was being compressed, and it hurt. She let a scream escape her lips, and the attack stopped.  
"Rei-chan!" Duo yelled and ran towards her.   
"Aqua Raspody (Is that Mercury's attack? 0.o)!!" Mercury's attack headed for Duo.  
"No!" Mars yelled, and flung herself inf ront of the attack, absorbing the hit. Her body was suddenly cold, and then it wore off, leaving her gasping for breath.   
"Why...?" Duo asked, kneeling by her, and putting her head in his lap.  
"Here..." Rei said, and took out her heshin wand and handed it to Duo. "You promised you'd leave if things got bad. I can't protect you anymore...get out of here." She reached around for Hotaru's heshin wand, but it was gone...help was on the way.   
"I promise I'll leave, if you'll only stay alive for me..." Duo said, Rei could see a tear in his eye.  
"Don't cry..." She said, and reached a gloved hand up to wipe his cheek where the tear had spilled out. "Leave, Duo, I'll see you again. I promise."  
"Aishiteru, Rei-chan..."  
"Aishiteru...." Rei said, and closed her eyes for a last time.   
  
True to his word, Duo got up, ready to leave. But could he just desert them like this? The battle was well underway, and while he had been with Sailormars, the battle had intensified, and Sailorneptune was gasping for breath. They needed help.   
"Dead Scream." The words were whispered against the night, as if an answer to their prayers. Pluto had arrived on scene. Duo smiled a little, he could fulfill Rei's wish without any guilt now. To make himself feel better, he fired a few shots at Sailors Mercury, Jupiter and Venus, and fired several more at Mammoru. He knew they would do no good, but he didn't care. He then used the night as a cloak and disappeared. Pluto's attack headed towards Mammoru, hit him, but he didn't seem phased by it. Now Neptune was trying to get to Usagi, to cut her loose, and she managed it just before Mercury launched another attack at her. Unfortunately, Usagi was unconscious. Wufei ran to catch her before she hit the ground, and managed it. Neptune, however, wasn't so lucky...the attack hit her full on, and she went down. Uranus ran to her, and grabbed her hand.   
"Michiru..."  
"Fight, Haruka," Michiru said, a little sadness in her voice. "because a world without Haruka...is no world at all..." She was gone. Uranus looked up from Neptune's body, her eyes full of hatred. She was looking at Sailormercury.   
"We always got along, Ami...but now I realize what a selfish brat you are! Space Sword Blaster!!!" Mercury was unable to stand against the attack, and her body went limp as she fell. "Let your death be a lesson in your next life." Uranus said, and took out her sword, preparing to kill herself with it.  
"Uranus, no!" Pluto yelled, but her words were to late.  
"How could you...?" She said, her eyes full of sadness, but the sadness broke as they returned to Mammoru and the two other senshi still standing, she was prepared to fight until death. 

Sailorsaturn ran as fast as she could to the center of town. Her sailor fuku had changed, the ruffled sleeves had returned, as well as the several pointed star brooch at her bow. The glaive had also changed, where there used to be a black staff, was now crystal clear, and three purple stones rested on the glaive. Saturn hoped she wasn't too late.

***

AN: Okay, just a simple note here...er...no flames...please? Okay? Need a little explanation for me killing off the senshi? Well, um, don't worry, k? You know they all come back, people!!! So, chill!! Anyway, I'm about ready to finish this up, there will probably be only one full chapter left...but don't worry, I'm planning on writing a sequel...and for those of you that are wondering, Mammoru _will_ get his due. And you Rei fans, sorry...she's my favorite inner senshi too, but trust me, she won't be out of the picture for long, I promise. And you Uranus fans...um about this suicide...she wanted to be with Michiru!!! Have some compassion!! Don't cry... the sun will shine again!! BWA ha ha...er...


	11. Ch9: Sayonara

***Chapter 10: Sayonara*  
**By: Kohan

"Dead Scream..." Pluto whispered, the sound of her voice breaking through the deep silence that had gathered. Pluto's powerful attack surrounded Saloirjupiter, making her fall to the ground, her body limp and lifeless. Meanwhile, Usagi had just regained consciousness, and was checking her clothes for something.   
"My...my brooch...where is it?" She looked around on the ground, Wufei was looking as well. "Mammoru must have it!" She yelled, Mammoru heard, and started advancing on the two. Wufei got up and pulled out his katana, a small, evil smile playing on his lips.  
"I'll get your locket, back, onna. He deserves what he has coming." Wufei said, and walked slowly towards Mammoru. Mammoru took out his cane (yes, by God, he still has it!), prepared to fight. Wufei lunged forward with his katana, managing to cut Mammoru's cloak. Something fell from the pocket that had been sliced, and hit the ground with a dull thud. It was Usagi's locket. Usagi saw, and the locket was only about 10 feet away from her, if she could just...she got up and started running forward. Mammoru saw her, and threw Wufei off him, he then went to grab Usagi before she could reach her precious brooch. Instead of grabbing her, though, he raised his cane, ready to strike her. He brought it down, preparing to hit her on the head, but instead of making contact with Usagi, it hit the solid staff of the silence glaive. Mammoru let out a surprised yelp, and the tried to force Saturn to the ground.  
"I'm going to kill you, little Saturn." He said.  
"What're you going to do?" Saturn said, struggling, "Spear me with a rose?" Usagi had managed to reach her locket, and held it up in the air.   
"Moon eternal! Make-up!" Usagi transformed, and then ran to the aid of Sailor Saturn.  
"Usagi...get out of here, save yourself...I can end this." Saturn said, the two pushed up on the silence glaive.   
"I won't let you die!"  
"It's the only way..."  
"No!"  
"Damn it, Usagi!" Hotaru said, "For them," She jerked her head towards the Gundam boys who were armed with their guns. Usagi let go of the staff of the Silence Glaive, and Mammoru stopped pushing down on his cane. A white ball of energy gathered in his hand.   
"This one's for you, Usagi." He said, and let the energy go. It flew towards Usagi, but she ducked, and instead it hit Sailorvenus in the chest. She fell down, gasped fresh breaths of air. Mammoru was the enemy...how could her mind have been blinded to that? She must fight for her princess...for Sailormoon.   
Usagi, having the kind heart she did, ran to Venus' side.   
"Usagi...I was wrong..." Venus said. She got up shakily, why didn't Mammoru's attack kill her? "Could you ever forgive me."  
"I already have," Sailormoon said. "but I think we need to end this."  
"Usagi...the shadow creatures...Mammoru still has their souls under his control." Venus said between gasps.   
"Where are they?"  
"He's calling them out now...let me handle it." Said Venus, and indeed, Mammoru was calling out the shadow creatures...hundreds of bodies of swirling darkness popped up from the ground.  
"Sailormoon, I think you need to use an old attack for them...like your spiral heart attack..." Venus said, preparing herself to attack.  
"What are you doing, Venus?" Mammoru yelled, his hands again forming the bright light.   
"Protecting my princess! Love and beauty shock!" The attack took out several of the shadow creatures, and the ones that were gone didn't return.   
"Spiral heart attack!" Sailormoon's old attack took out the remaining creatures. Sailorsaturn was now standing by Sailormoon, who hadn't even realized Saturn was there.  
"I'll say it again." Saturn whispered, "Get your fuku covered ass out of here...you too." She looked at Venus, who nodded. Saturn then turned to Heero, who was standing beside her. "Here..." She pulled off the several pointed star from the center of her bow. "Keep this for me? I'll be back for it someday."  
"Firefly...?" Heero said,  
"No..." Said Sailormoon, and made a move forward to grab Saturn, but she was too quick for her. Saturn put her glaive out to stop Sailormoon.   
"We've been in a position like this before...don't make me make you leave."   
"You don't have to do this, we can defeat him together!"  
"NO! We can't! I will not let you get yourself killed when I can do it by myself without you getting yourself killed!" Saturn said.   
"Aishitaru, Firefly." Heero said, he smiled faintly, and then wiped a tear off Sailorsaturn's face then grabbed Sailormoon, Venus grabbed her also. "Wufei, Trowa, Quatre! Let's get out of here! See you again, Firefly." He added to Saturn, and they left, leaving her and Mammoru alone.  
"We end this now, Saturn. You _will_ die."  
"But not alone." Saturn said. Mammoru's white power gathered in his hands, and Saturn started to glow a deep purple. Mammoru muttered a few words, just as Saturn started to glow the brightest. "Shinokisu..." She whispered, and the purple power flew out from her, engulfing everything around, including Mammoru.

When the purple mist subsided, all that remained was the perfectly normal center of town. There was no blood, there were no bodies, there was nothing except the regular.   
***

"What is she going to do?" Heero asked, pushing Usagi along a little.   
"In a way..." Usagi said through a few tears. "she's like you. Hotaru plays by her own rules. She's going to do what you would call self detonate. Anything to get the job done, damn it."

***

"You'll be leaving then?"   
"Hai," Usagi answered Quatre's question sadly. It had been two days since the encounter with Mammoru. "Setsuna says that they may be there when we return...we can only hope." She sad, nodding to Minako and Setsuna.   
"Does that mean that Mammoru will be there as well?"  
"He is the Prince of Earth...he must have been reborn. We can only guess to the fact if he'll be evil or not."  
"Heero and Duo send their regards, they're sorry they couldn't make it to see you off." Quatre said in an apologetic tone.   
"Will we be seeing you again?" Asked Trowa.  
"I don't know." Said Usagi, and looked up at the sky, it was a bright blue. "I suppose we'll have to see you guys again, Rei and Hotaru promised Duo and Heero..." Usagi sighed. Setsuna transformed into Sailorpluto, and raised her timestaff.   
"Good-bye, Onna." Wufei said to Usagi.   
"Sayonara, Wufei." Usagi and the others disappeared in the mists, leaving the three boys standing by themselves. 

"Do you think they'll be there?" Minako asked Setsuna.  
"It's possible, though they will probably be in different places...I imagine that Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru will be in our house, and Rei will probably be in her temple. Makoto and Ami will probably be in their apartments, and Mammoru will most likely be in his. Though I could be wrong." Setsuna said. They were walking down the streets of present-day Japan.   
"What if they're not there?" Asked Usagi.  
"I don't know then..."  
"It's sad saying 'sayonara' ne?"   
"We'll be seeing them again. I don't think Rei and Hotaru would have it any other way."  
"I'm glad. I would miss them."  
"Hai." 

***


	12. Epilogue

***Epilogue*  
**By: Kohan

_Though my soul may sit in darkness,  
It will rise in perfect light  
I have loved the stars too fondly,  
To be fearful of the night.*_

The five-year-old hands of Hotaru Tomoe rose swiftly above her head in effort to reach the top of the counter where the peanut butter was located. She stood on the tips of her toes in the effort, and then cursed lightly under her breath when she found that her small body wouldn't allow her to reach without some aide. Quietly, stumbling slightly at the surprise length of her legs, Hotaru walked over to where a chair was sitting and clumsily picked it up and brought it over to the counter. Climbing onto it, she reached the peanut butter as well as the bread. Now for a knife. Opening the drawer, she retrieved a butter knife, and climbed down so she could prepare dinner. A dinner of peanut butter sandwiches. 

Sitting on the hardwood floor, Hotaru wrestled the jar open, and dug her knife into it. Trying best she could to make sure that she didn't spill any, she spread the peanut butter on the bread. This was harder then it looked. Her body didn't do the things her mind told it to, and so she was having more trouble then necessary. A sudden noise caught her ears, and she turned her head quickly in the direction that the noise had come from. At the front door stood three figures. Hotaru stood up, the peanut butter clutched tightly in her hands.   
"Hotaru...?" Setsuna said.  
"Meiou-san, Tsukino-san... Aino-san." Hotaru said.   
"How did she grow so quickly, Setsuna?" Usagi whispered to the older of the three.   
"I'm not sure...it's possible that it's because she's done it several times...but last time she had my help...I haven't done anything at all..."  
"And why is she being so formal?" Asked Minako.  
"I have no idea." Setsuna said, then she looked at Hotaru, "Where are Michiru and Haruka?" She asked.  
"They are in their bedroom, Meiou-san." Hotaru said, and went back to preparing dinner. Usagi walked over and crouched down so she was at Hotaru's level.  
"What'cha makin' there, Hotaru-chan?"  
"Though I may bear the appearance of a 5 year old child, Tsukino-san, I still hold the mind of a 18-year-old Hotaru Tomoe." Hotaru replied tartly. Usagi was a little taken aback.   
"H-how long have you been like this?"   
"This age? It will be one hour in ten minutes. After I died, I was reborn here, as a baby. It took me only two days to get to the age I am now. Ten'ou-san and Meiou-san are still infants."  
"And Rei?" Minako asked, coming up.  
"I have not seen or heard from Hino-san at all." Hotaru said, looking up. "If you don't mind, I would like to finish making my dinner. "

Later that night, after Usagi and the others had gone to find the other senshi and retrieved them, Minako was sitting on the couch, busily trying to feed baby Rei with a bottle. Setsuna had left a few hours ago to go check on the time gates.  
"I don't think she likes that, Mina-chan. See? Her face is all crunched up...she looks like she usually does when she gets mad."  
"Well? She can't possibly drink out of a cup, now can she?" Minako said, and at that, baby Rei stopped struggling.   
"Minako? I don't know...but about Hotaru? She seems more...um..."  
"Aggressive?" Minako said. "Yes, I have been thinking about that myself. She seems so dark."   
"I don't know, but we should ask Setsuna...maybe we shouldn't awaken Saturn at this point..."  
"It's too late." Said a voice from the hallway. A seven-year-old Hotaru stood there. "Saturn has awoken herself."  
"Hotaru-chan?"  
"I am going back to bed. Growing up is hard you know, especially when you are doing it at light speed. I'll see you in the morning." She turned around to leave. "Oh, by the way, there are some people...at the door. I think you'll want to see to it that they come inside." Hotaru walked down the hall and into her room. Usagi stared blankly at the spot where she had been standing. Hotaru's voice suddenly echoed inside Usagi's mind: "Are you going to get the door?" Usagi was startled, but she got up and opened the wooden door.   
  
...  
  
"WU-CHAN!?"  
"Onna?"  
"And minna-san?"  
"Are you going to invite us in, or should we stand out here all day?"  
"No! I-I mean yes! Come in!"   
"Is Rei...is she...?"  
"She's here...Hotaru too...sorta...you um, you won't believe it..."

End.

***  
*= Sarah Williams, "The old Astronomer and His Pupil"  
***

Authors Note: There you have it. I guess the ending leaves room for a sequel, don't you think so? Oh, and it would be very nice, if you *do* want a sequel, that is, to kindly [drop me a line of encouragement][1].

   [1]: mailto:Deadry@hotmail.com



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